Veja’s New Collab With Mansur Gavriel Utilizes Rice Waste, Biomaterials
French sneaker label Veja has a signature minimal style, and so does recent collaborator Mansur Gavriel.
The brands’ aesthetics collide in a collection that dropped in U.S. stores and online Thursday. The footwear pair made four eye-popping colorways — inspired by the rainbow — of Veja’s bestselling Campo shoe silhouette.
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Saturation was key to the collaboration. Celeste is a pool blue; Rosa has a rose-toned wash; Sunshine, a vibrant yellow, and Crema, a creamy shade. The line is priced at $175 and available online at both brands’ websites.
The worldwide launch is slated for April 21, but until then, customers can preorder the shoes starting April 7.
The vulcanized sneaker sole is bio-sourced and 65 percent recycled (made of rice waste, Amazonian rubber and recycled rubber). The upper is made of ChromeFree leather, which is a certification from the Leather Alliance signifying a chrome-free leather that dodges heavy metals, or dangerous acids involved in the tanning process.
On the makings of the collaboration, the Veja team told WWD, “Our collaborations are the results of projects we love, and people we meet and admire. That’s how we keep creating, exchanging and discovering new perspectives. We have been big fans of Mansur Gavriel for 10 years. We know the work Mansur Gavriel is doing; their timeless and relevant aesthetic where craft and materials are essential. We got in contact with them two years ago and were very excited about the possibilities of what we could create together.”
Last month, Veja collaborated with Italian luxury house Marni on an artistic high-top sneaker with sketched renderings.
While the intention isn’t expressly to scale learnings, the Veja team admitted, “Every collaboration we make teaches us something. It can be a development of a material or creative ideas. It helps us to push the project even more, and learn how to be better.”
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