You probably haven´t heard of Veja as they employ a zero zero strategy of not advertising. But I think their way of doing business and producing their products is just too good not to share!
The resources saved are integrated into the production chain. This means the farmers and producers Veja works with are fairly remunerated – to accomodate their social and environmental requirements. Veja´s fabrication costs are 3 to 4 times higher than other footwear brands because the trainers and bags are produced with dignity. But Veja´s “no advertising” policy makes it possible to sell trainers at a price which is equal to competitors.
Production is also tightly maintained, it has to adapt to the availability of organic cotton which may vary. This means sometimes having to reduce the quantities ordered by retailers to reflect the harvest. Who´s heard of that before!?!
REDUCE
In order to reduce our carbon footprints, we need to change our methods of transportation, organization, production, conditioning and consumption. All Veja trainers are transported by boat from Porto Alegre, Brazil to Le Havre in France. Upon arrival in Le Havre, the trainers travel in barges along the canals to the Parisian suburbs.Veja’s packaging is made of recycled and recyclable cardboard. The size of the shoe-box was reduced in 2002 to optimize efficiency. Finally, Veja uses ENERCOOP (a cooperative of green electricity), in its Headquaters instead of EDF (the French national nuclear energy supplier).
MATERIALS
Veja uses fair trade organic cotton, farmed in Northeast Brazil. The soles are made from wild rubber trees found in the Amazon, read more about the process used here. Veja only uses eco-tanned leather created with vegetable extract such as Acacia. Unlike modern tanning procedures (based on chromium and other heavy metals) leather that is ecologically tanned decreases pollution in water surrounding the tannery plant.
And to top it all off, they make some pretty awesome shoes and bags! Click here to shop online.
