Sneakers with respect

VEJA is a brand of ecological and fair trade

footwear and accessories established in 2004.
It is a French company with its headquarters
in Paris. Working with small producers from all
over Brazil, Veja uses ecological materials such
as organic cotton, wild Amazonian rubber and
naturally-tanned leather to create sneakers and
accessories. The co-founders of Veja, Sbastien
Kopp and Franois-Ghislain Morillon, explain.

Co-founders of Veja,
Franois-Ghislain
Morillon (left) and
Sbastien Kopp.
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Veja

1. What is in your opinion a responsible product? What are the criteria

such products have to comply with?
Veja has been built on 3 main principles : the principles of using
ecological materials, of working under fair trade principles when
adapted and of respecting workers rights and dignity.
From small producers in Brazil to concept stores in Europe, Veja
has created a solidarity chain featuring a global approach with
transparency at its core.

enterprise, a constant work in progress. We know, quantify, and

publicly share our limitations.
3. What drives you to sell responsible products with natural ingredients?
The Earth cannot survive if our lack of consideration will continue.
We quickly came to the point that words were not enough and
that real action was needed. Changing the systems of production
is definitively possible. Veja was started in 2004. The model that
we have established is a viable alternative. It IS possible to create
sneakers that respect both high social and environmental standards.
4. Could you describe the product chain? Who are the suppliers of the
ingredients? Who are the other links in the product chain? What are the
criteria they have to comply with?
Working with small producers from all over Brazil, Veja uses
ecological materials such as organic cotton, wild Amazonian rubber
and naturally-tanned leather to create sneakers and accessories.
The canvas of the sneakers is made of organic cotton grown by
an association of small farmers located in Cear, North of Brazil.
Cear is a semi-arid area with vast socio-economic inequalities. 350
families live there from agro-ecological farming, a model which
bans the use of pesticides and chemicals.

The rubber used in the soles of the trainers comes from the
Amazon. The Amazon is the only place on earth where rubber trees
2. How can you guarantee the buyers that your products are really
grow in the wild. Veja works there with a cooperative of 36 families
responsible products?
of rubber tappers. They are located in the heart of the Amazon, in
A key word for any sustainable project is transparency. With Veja
the Chico Mends extractive reserve. Buying Amazonian rubber
we try to introduce transparency at each step of our supply chain in at a premium allows rubber tappers to live decently from rubber
Brazil and France. To start with, we have a direct relationship with
tapping. They are thus less tempted by the financial opportunities
the cooperatives of producers we work with. Rather than mere
of land-clearing. This is a way to fight against deforestation.
suppliers they are real partners to our project. This means travelling As for leather, it is not, in its essence, produced under fair trade
often to Brazil for a close and collaborative relationship.
principles. We can, however, trace its provenance and it does not
To enhance transparency we brought, in the fall of 2011, seven of
come from the Amazon area where cattle breeding is one of the
our historical clients (owners of fashion stores) to Brazil to show
main causes of land clearing. Leather used in the Veja collections is
them where we work and introduce them to our local partners.
tanned with acacia extracts, a natural, non-polluting alternative to
Quoting their own words, they had not realized we were so
heavy metals such as chrome. The trainers are assembled in South
thoroughly involved in the field.
Brazil, in a factory which respects the workers rights and their
But not everybody can go, visit and review the project in Brazil.
dignity. They are then shipped to Le Havre, from where they travel
Even though certifications are not our ultimate goal, we believe that by barge until the doors of Paris. There, a social association called
a minimum control, monitored by third parties, is necessary. The
Atelier Sans Frontire handles stock management and delivery
cotton used in the Veja sneakers is IBD (organic) and Flo-Cert (fair
preparations. They help people who have been unemployed for
trade) certified. Veja is not a perfect project. It is an ever evolving
a longer time in returning to the job market through work and
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Fair trade is not charity. It is a trade which

respects fair rules.
For us, economic, social
and environmental values
are all cross-linked.

training. The solidarity chain goes up to the doors of the stores

where the trainers are available.

But the impact does not only affect the producers and their families
but also the communities as a whole. We work closely with them
to help them strengthen local organizations. For instance, when
we started working in the Amazon we were buying virgin rubber
which was then transformed outside the forest. In 2008 they
organized themselves into a cooperative and we backed the launch
of a new technology called FDL (Folha Desfumada Liquida). The
FDL technology allows the rubber tappers to transform rubber,
freshly harvested from the trees, into high quality sheets of semiprocessed rubber without requiring any industrial processing. The
rubber tappers can now sell a semi-fished product, they receive
a higher income (FDL = 7R$ / Classic rubber = 3.5R$) and more
added-value is brought inside the forest. Beyond the ecological
196 | THE ECOSYSTEM PROMISE

Cdric Amiot

6. How do people benefit from your activities?

Fair trade is not charity. It is a trade which respects fair rules.
One of the fair trade standards is that the guaranteed minimum
price is revised every 2 or 3 years. Incomes have increased: the
improved lifestyles of the rubber tappers and organic cotton
farmers we work with speak for themselves. But interest in the
agro-ecology model has also risen in the areas where we work.
We started in 2005, working with 200 families of organic cotton
farmers. They are now nearly 350 divided over 5 cooperatives. They
have produced 23,600 kg of cotton in 2011.
In the Amazon we work with 36 families of rubber tappers and 10
more will join the project in 2012.

Sneaker made of organic cotton from the

north-east of Brazil and responsible wild
rubber from Acre in the Brazilian Amazon.

Veja

5. Please describe the market. Who are the buyers? Has the market of
responsible products grown? Has your turnover increased, remained the
same or has it decreased over the years?
It is easier to start a business based on good practices than to change
practices in the long run. We started Veja with the willingness to
change the way sneakers were made and we have been producing
sneakers using noble materials and respecting the workers who are
involved in the project for the past seven years.
Fashion is a versatile world. Fair trade products must comply with
the same standards of style, design, comfort and quality. The Veja
sneakers are available in regular shops, from independent and
selective fashion boutiques to department stores. We dont want
it to be so that only already convinced people will be able to find
them. We started very small, with a production of 5,000 pairs for
the first season and are now producing about 120,000 pairs a year.

Rubbertapper in the Brazilian Amazon.

and economic benefits of that new technology, a sense of more

rewarding work and a fair amount of proudness is brought to the
rubber tappers community.
7. How does the environment benefit from your activities?
The Veja trainers and accessories respect both the environment and
every worker involved.
Organic Cotton:
Located in the Northeast of Brazil, the state of Cear has vast
wealth inequalities, fragile soils and a tendency towards drought.
In contrast to the predominant monoculture farming system in
the Northeast of Brazil, a group of small producers grow cotton
and food crops under agro-ecology principles which ban agrochemicals and pesticides. For those small-scale farmers (1 hectare
of land on average), farming development goes hand-in-hand with
environmental protection.
Wild Amazonian Rubber:

Buying wild rubber from the Amazon at a premium is an incentive

for local communities to keep the trees standing. They earn a
decent living from rubber tapping and are then less tempted by
the financial opportunities of activities which need land-clearing.
Among them, cattle breeding or wood extraction. Also, the rubber
trees, being native, grow randomly in the forest. To live decently
from rubber tapping, big areas of forest are protected, preserving
the local biodiversity.
Processes:
As explained above, Veja uses leather tanned with natural
components such as acacia extracts. Unlike modern tanning
processes (based on the use of chrome and other heavy metals),
vegetable-tanning processes decrease the pollution in the waters
surrounding tanneries. We are also very much concerned by
Vejas global carbon footprint. The trainers are shipped from Porto
Alegre, Brazil to Le Havre, France and then travel by barge until the
doors of Paris. The shoe boxes are made of recycled and recyclable
cardboard, while Enercoop, a company of renewable energy,
supplies the power to our headquarters. For the CO2 emissions
which cant be reduced further, we take part in a trees planting
initiative in Peru called Pure Project.
8. What is the value of the ecosystem(s) which offer the natural
ingredients you use?
For us, economic, social and environmental values are all crosslinked. The preservation of ecosystems relies on the people who
live in it. Lets take the example of rubber in the Amazon. Rubber is
a natural resource, which can bring an economic value to the forest,
as long as the forest remains standing. Preserving the Amazonian

forest is one of the main challenges of our century.

The new process used by the rubber tappers we work with brings
an added economic value, but also various cultural values: the
knowledge of a new technique and the prestige to test and take part
in the creation of a pioneering technology. The arrival of FDL in the
Chico Mends reserve was like a mini revolution. Rubber tappers
who had been poor for a long time, now have gained a new status.
They are not rubber tappers anymore but FDL producers.
In the Northeast of Brazil, where we source the cotton, fair trade
rules have brought better incomes to the farmers while agro-ecology farming methods allow a better protection of the soils. Other
benefits are among others: health improvement of the farmers and
their families (which used to be exposed to hazardous chemicals),
activity diversification and a greater autonomy.
9. What or who inspires you in your work?
At the very beginning, we were inspired by Tristan Leconte, French
founder of AlterEco. He showed us what modern marketing
applied to high standard fair trade products was. We also are
inspired by the different worlds we travel through. It can be
local associations, fashion shows, artists, agronomy specialists,
designers... The whole world is inspiring!
10. What is your message to politicians, bankers and other investors,
consumers or others you may like to address?
To all publics our message is the same: action and transparency are
better than any words.
www.veja.fr
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