Campo is a vegan sneaker that brings together organic, fair trade, environment and social reintegration in a single product.
Basic Information
- Product: Campo
- Company: Veja Fair Trade
Product Details
What is it?
Campo is a revolutionary vegan sneaker with a larger sole and a sharp design.
What makes it responsible?
C.W.L. The upper of the shoes and panels are made of material called C.W.L. This bio-sourced and biodegradable material, developed in Italy, is basically a cotton canvas coated with polyurethane and a resin made from corn waste. The result is a leather-substitute that looks and feels like real leather.
Cotton. The organic-certified cotton is sourced directly from farmer associations in Brazil and Peru, who have adopted agro-ecological methods. By not using chemical fertilizers or pesticides and by combining cotton cultivation with corn, sesame and beans, the farmers naturally enrich the soil and also grow food for their families, at the same time.
The price of the cotton is set in advance, in agreement with the state government and producer associations. Since the price is completely decorrelated from the market and its fluctuations, the farmers enjoy great financial security and, in fact, know how much they are going to earn from the cotton before they even plant it. For reference, in 2017, VEJA paid on average twice the market rate for all cotton purchased.
Rubber. The rubber making up the soles of the sneaker is harvested in the wild by local seringueiros, rubber tappers. The seringueiros also process the harvested liquid rubber into rubber paste and then into sheets of about 1 m x 1 m x 2 cm. This innovative process allows the rubber to reach a higher purity.
Allowing the processing to take place locally, the arrangement also generates more revenues for the local rubber producers and reduces the financial incentives of deforestation. VEJA estimates, they helped to save 120,000 hectares of native Amazon forest since 2004.
Polyester. The lining is entirely made of recycled polyester.
Chemicals. Every year, VEJA randomly tests the chemical safety of their sneakers to make sure they don’t contain any noxious, toxic or polluting elements. The shoes are taken apart and each component is crushed into powder with a grinder. The powders are then tested for 298 prohibited or regulated chemical compounds.
B Corp. VEJA is also B Corp certified, which means they had to undergo a detailed scrutiny of approximately 300 items, including for example the wages, the suppliers, the team, the environment, the workplace or the governance. The entire process took almost one year and a number of changes had to be made to how the company operates.
No tax havens. Additionally, whenever possible, VEJA uses banks that don’t have branches in tax havens.
No ads. Because the raw materials are environmentally friendly and purchased according to fair trade principles, because the sneakers are produced in factories with high social standards, the sneakers cost 5-7 times more to produce than a comparable product from major brands.
Yet, Campo sells for roughly the same price. How come?
The reason: VEJA doesn’t advertise. You see, approximately 70% of the cost of a normal big sneaker brand is advertising. Since VEJA eliminated advertising, the sneaker can be sold in stores for the same price as competing big brands.
As a result, when you buy Campo sneakers, you can be sure that raw material producers were justly compensated, social and environmental impacts were optimized, and the sneakers were manufactured in conditions where everyone gets the respect they deserve.