VEJA is based on a very simple observation: 70% of the cost of a normal big sneaker brand is related to advertising.
Venturi Suede Rouille Dried Petal Pierre Lookbook Fall-Winter 2019 « Antivilla »
© Photo Vincent Desailly
Eliminating ads, marketing costs, doing away with brand ambassadors, billboards, means investing in reality rather than fiction. It means working back up the production chain and changing it. It means spending more time on the ground, rather than investing in smoke and mirrors.
La chaîne de montage de notre usine de fabricationPorto Alegre, 2017
It costs 5 to 7 times more to make a VEJA, because the raw materials are environmentally friendly and purchased according to fair trade principles, because the sneakers are produced in factories with high social standards.
Since we've eliminated advertising, the sneaker is sold in stores for the same price as competing big brands.
Our factory's assembly linePorto Alegre, 2019
© Studio VEJA
V-10 Leather Extra White Jaune Fluo
© Mario Simon Lafleur
A pair of VEJA costs 5 to 7 times as much to produce, but since there are no advertising costs, they are sold for the same price.
The heart of the VEJA model: reinject the amounts normally allocated to advertising into the phase that comes before the assembly line.
Raw material producers are thus more justly compensated, social and environmental impacts are constantly optimized, and sneakers are manufactured in conditions where everyone gets the respect they deserve.
Amazonian latex harvests from a rubber treeAmazon, 2016
© Photo Studio VEJA
Cotton flower at harvest timeCeará, 2016
© Ludovic Carème
At VEJA, instead of relying on marketing hype to have an impact, we'd rather rely on collective intelligence.