Veja, the eco-friendly French footwear company, makes normal shoes. That’s not an insult. 

Signature models like the Campo and V-90 are perfectly competent shoes to pair with a Patagonia vest, maybe a Peter Millar quarter-zip, and a trip to Trader Joe’s. They’re shoes designed to be worn without worrying about outfit coordination or fear of creases.

However, the brand’s recent output eases back on the no-frills design in favor of impressively bold and even chunky silhouettes amplified by a propensity for collabs — all plays that align more with footwear brands that people consider “cool,” like New Balance and Hoka. Veja may have initially found its stride with inoffensive shoes aligned with tech bros and r/mensfashion readers, but the company is gently veering into a new, more interesting lane: cool shoes.

In August, Veja launched the GT, a low-profile lugged-sole silhouette inspired by racing shoes. It looks like the Puma Speedcat’s cousin that works in finance and works because it’s such a curveball. It breaks up a sea of serviceable Veja Campos, quite literally: the GT is so good that it’s cracked the top five best-selling men’s shoes on Veja’s website. 

And, over the past year, Veja rolled out the running-inspired Salar, Condor 3 Advanced, and the martial-arts-meets-ballet Jitsu.

Each feels of the moment without being directly imitative. They’re still somewhat normal shoes — especially the Salar and Condor 3 Advanced, which effectively riff on modern running silhouettes — but they put Veja’s typical design language to work in fresh ways, cleaning up and reconsidering familiar forms. The Jitsu’s asymmetrical, wide toebox, for instance, distinguishes it from other “barefoot” shoes and it helps that womenswear label Baserange revamped the young shoe with objectively lovely colorways.

Likewise, the Salar and Condor 3 Advanced are remarkably clean shoes that make ordinary silhouettes — runners in this case — better through transformative collabs that elevate their silhouettes.

Japanese craft collective Sashiko Gals hand-stitched layers of lush threadwork into the Salar as if to demonstrate the sneaker's dialed-in proportions while Tokyo label CFCL stripped the Condor 3 Advanced back to its essential elements, then blew it up with beautiful tonal leather.

The most obvious sign that Veja is on its way to becoming a certifiably suave sneaker label? It willingly ditched its “V” logo in a collaboration with French brand Arpenteur to better emphasize the collaborative sneaker’s plush leather, yielding a cool (and not boring) plain shoe that’s about as sleek and sexy as a Veja can get.

And, apparently, it’s just the beginning. 

 Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit our SHOPPER page and subscribe to the newsletter for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.