Veja Running

Veja’s sus­tainable snea­k­ers have beco­me a stap­le for many peo­p­le. Tha­t’s not sur­pri­sing becau­se the snea­k­er real­ly fits with ever­y­thing. But did you know that the sus­tainable brand now also makes run­ning shoes?

An eco­lo­gi­cal run­ning shoe is still hard to find. In fact, 99% of run­ning shoes are made of pla­s­tic, 99% of which is petro­le­um (oil). Both are not rene­wa­ble mate­ri­als that cau­se dama­ge to peo­p­le and the envi­ron­ment. It took Veja four years of rese­arch to deve­lop the first eco­lo­gi­cal run­ning shoe, but the results are impres­si­ve. The Con­dor is Veja’s first step into the world of sports. 

Materials

The sus­tainable run­ning shoe con­sists of a total of 53% natu­ral and recy­cled mate­ri­als. For exam­p­le, the vege­ta­ble cas­tor oil is used for the cha­rac­te­ristic ​‘V’ on the side of the shoe. The out­so­le of the shoe con­sists of 30% wild rub­ber, 31% recy­cled rub­ber and 39% syn­the­tic rub­ber. Half (45%) of the midd­le sole is made from natu­ral mate­ri­als inclu­ding bana­na oil, sugar cane and rice hull, a was­te pro­duct from the food indus­try. The other half (55%) of the midd­le sole is made of soft pla­s­tic E.V.A (Ethy­le­ne Vinyl Ace­tate) which has the same qua­li­ties as rub­ber. Com­pared to other pla­s­tics, it is more resistant to heat, cold and UV radia­ti­on, and E.V.A is pro­du­ced wit­hout the addi­ti­on of harmful che­mi­cals, such as BPA, Chlo­ri­ne or Phthalate;. 

The inso­le also con­ta­ins 56% from E.VA. Other than that, the inso­le is made from 8% recy­cled E.V.A, 12% wild rub­ber, 12% recy­cled pla­s­tic bot­t­les and 12% jute. For the fabric at the top, Veja uses the inno­va­ti­ve mate­ri­al Alveomesh, which is made from 100% recy­cled pla­s­tic bottles. 

Ethical

Like the Veja snea­k­ers, the run­ning shoe is made in Bra­zil in good working con­di­ti­ons. Curious how? Take a look here.

Curious to buy the very first eco­lo­gi­cal run­ning shoe of Veja? Check out the points of sale on the map below.