Veja. This much I can gather from tallying Veja sneaker sightings on the New York City subway, on the elevator at work, or in the TSA line at the airport—there are dozens—and then peeking at the most-searched questions about the brand.
Veja knows the celebrities-wearing-things economy raises brand awareness, and several big names have helped put Veja on U.S. shoppers’ radars. For example, “When [Meghan] wore the shoes, there were maybe 200 articles about Meghan Markle wearing Veja,” cofounder Sébastien Kopp reflects in an interview withwas immediate and of tidal wave proportions. Kopp considered the sudden uptick in interest “not sad, but … it meant something about our society,” he muses.
Here’s a snapshot of how they make it happen: Amazonian rubber is tapped for the soles by local cooperatives and bought by Veja at several times the market rate. Organic cotton for canvas uppers is carefully harvested in Peru. Logistics for all online orders, plus the brand’s four European stores, are coordinated by Log’ins, a nonprofit employing people with various disabilities in an adapted workplace.