Are you a sneaker freak? How sustainable are your favourite sneakers? If they’re by cult French brand, Veja, the answer is very.

In the sustainable fashion space, we often talk about reducing the negative impacts of production on people and planet, but Veja's Sébastien Kopp and François Morillion talk about having a positive impact on the environment and society. Not less harm but active good.

Is it possible? How do you choose eco-positive materials to make sneakers? Can you make money doing it? Veja sneakers cost 5 to 7 times more than conventional brands to produce because the raw materials are environmentally friendly and purchased according to fair trade principles, and because the sneakers are produced in fair factories. How do you balance the books? Hint: you give up advertising.

What are the challenges of working this way? And what are the rewards?

In this Episode, recorded in Veja's HQ in Paris, Clare speaks with Sébastien Kopp about these questions and more. We talk: vegan shoes, Made in Brazil, agro-ecological organic cotton and wild rubber. We cover the history of colonialism in the Amazon, the definitions of success and failure and how to reshape the economic system for the better. This is a fascinating conversation with a truly original fashion thinker. And of course, he loves sneakers...

How fab is our music? THANK YOU Montaigne. She is singing an acoustic version of Because I love You.

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