Since 2004 French brand VEJA has sold 3.5 million sneakers, established stock in 2000 stores, and can be purchased in more than 60 countries. And this has been accomplished with no advertising.
Sébastien Koop, creative director and co-founder of VEJA, noted in an interview with L’Officiel USA that “a sneaker is one of the most interesting product on an economic level because it concentrates the most advertising spending”. According to VEJA, the industry-standard was to spend 70 percent of costs in advertising and communication, leaving just 30 percent for the raw materials and production. This is where VEJA differs from competing brands because its main objective is to allocate its entire budget to the production, raw materials, and fair trade principles.
The cost of production for a VEJA sneaker is five to seven times more than competing brands, but by eliminating advertising from the budget, they end up at the same price as their opponents.
The founders’ choice to steer clear from advertising is unconventional, as with the reason why VEJA was not established for the same reasons as a typical sneaker brand. They do not conform to the traditional culture of brands with the continuous pursuit of new trends or sponsoring athletes. It’s only about their product and principles.
VEJA’s supply chain is vital to its moral stance; directly sourcing their materials from Brazil and Peru ensures they can trace the exact journey of their product. Their raw materials consist of recycled plastic, sustainable rubber and organic cotton. The recycled plastic is referred to as B-Mesh and this comes from the plastic bottles picked up of the street of Rio and Sao Paulo. The sustainable rubber is tapped using traditional techniques located in the Amazon, and organic cotton is bought from family farmers that abstain from using harmful pesticides and fertilizers.
VEJA has had the luxury of being able to rely on word-of-mouth, fueled by the world becoming more environmentally conscious and seeking sustainable alternatives. Not to mention the reaction to the Duchess of Sussex, Megan Markle, being seen wearing a pair of VEJAs, prompting a 113% increase in searches for the brand.
Interestingly, many customers are completely oblivious to VEJA’s incredible journey, but when asked about this in an interview with Fast Company, Kopp responded “We have never done advertising, so it’s not like we were trying to shape the consumer’s understanding of the brand. And anyway, we started all of this because it made us happy. It doesn’t matter if anybody else understands our mission.”
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