Veja: a shoe company with a smaller social and environmental footprint.

Every new brand we launch on site has some element of intrigue or excitement. We wouldn’t welcome anything that didn’t interest us in some way, of course. But often, we simply like the look of the clothes and how they’re made. Which there is nothing wrong with. Let’s not delude ourselves – fashion does not necessarily have to be about anything profound. However, this week, we welcome a new brand that offers something a little bit different – something more than bells and whistles.

Veja, founded in 2005, undoubtedly produce sneakers that look, well, pretty great (we are firm fans of their vintage-inspired aesthetic). But they also make sneakers with a conscience. What’s that? Sentient sneakers you say? No, we mean sneakers that are made with transparency, and in an environmentally responsible fashion.

How do they do it? Veja use organic cotton canvas from Ceara in Brazil. The brand makes soles from wild rubber from the Amazonian forest. It uses recycled bottles to make the “B-Mesh” material on each shoe (three bottles per pair, to be precise). And the shoes are finished in Bonneil-sur Marne in France using rehabilitation through work schemes. Their overall aim is to create “A different sneaker which should be well-made with a positive impact at every step of the economic chain.” They describe themselves as a brand, “with two feet. One foot in the ecological world and the other in the high-fashion world.”

The main two styles we have bought into are the V10s and the Watas – which are a bit more of a low-top in terms of design. For sneakers with style, and substance, shop the collection, below.