Fair Trade Kicks

I got an e-mail this afternoon from Aurélie at the new, first brand of fair trade sneakers, Veja, about their new kicks. Here's the info:

We launched in March 2005 in Paris and Tokyo, Veja, the first brand of fair trade sneakers. The concept is to make sneakers that do respect men and nature. Materials used are organic cotton produced by a cooperative of small Brazilian producers and rubber from wild Amazon Hevea trees. The cooperative of latex producers is fighting against deforestation. Manufacturing is done in a cooperative that respects the dignity of workers. The fair trade premium paid to the producers aims at financing concrete development projects in heath, education or environment fields. All along the production chain, from small Brazilian producers to European, Japanese or American consumers, the new brand tries to have a positive social impact and opens new ways of doing business.

The first Veja model is inspired by Brazilian volley shoes from the 70’s.

Pretty cool, huh? And the shoes ain't half bad, either. Check out all the flavors on their website. I like the black and yellow ones the best. The website is all in French, so this is all of the information I have. I have no idea if they are available yet, but they do have a list of retailers on their website. If it weren't all Flash, I would link to it, but you are just going to have to find it yourselves. The only US retailer listed is SCOUT at 7920 West Third Street in Los Angeles.