In June 2020, we launched our new project in Darwin, Bordeaux: a space to clean, repair, and collect old VEJA pairs and sneakers from other brands. Nadège, our in-store cobbler, thinks about it as “a repair service that meets a need people cannot imagine.”
Circularity and sustainability are not the same although both are lumped together in discussions. Sustainability revolves around a sneaker brand limiting the production of shoes, monitoring their carbon footprint, improving supply chains and making shoes with eco-friendliness at the forefront. Circularity contributes to sustainability because of the three tenants of reduce, reuse and recycle. Veja has been actively working on their thoughtfulness for the environment. Their latest foray reminds me immediately of COMUNITYmade and their in-house cobblers, but Veja has elevated the entire concept.
The store at Darwin, Bordeaux France is designed with sustainability and utilizes clean energy:
Take the mosaic parquet flooring: It was originally created by innovative architect Raphael Navot, using vertically placed pieces of reclaimed wood, artfully slotted together. For the walls, they stripped away the plaster to reveal the bare concrete beneath and — in a nod to the site’s former tenant, a store called Shine — retained a whisper of its logo etched on the concrete like a ghost of retail past.
Paris-based architecture and design studio Ciguë created bespoke shelving from recycled paper and plaster and used LED lighting because it has the lowest carbon footprint possible, Kopp said. The ceiling features a light sculpture by Brazilian neon artist Kleber Matheus.
Even the electricity is green, powered by French cooperative renewable energy provider Enercoop, which uses only energy from hydraulic, wind turbine, solar and biomass sources. The partnership was a no-brainer, said Kopp, noting that the energy company has supplied the Veja HQ since 2008.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/veja-launches-sustainable-laboratory-repairing-105424014.html
