French Brand VEJA is Opening Store in Berlin

After Paris, Bordeaux and New York, the French label VEJA is opening its very first store in Germany, in Berlin-Mitte to be precise. The store opening will be celebrated with the French on July 7th with a party at Alte Schönhauser Str. 42.

In addition to the lifestyle and running collection for men, women and children, a cobbler in the store offers the repair and cleaning service for sneakers and shoes.

The first cobbler project was launched in June 2020 in Bordeaux (Darwin), where a workshop was set up to clean, repair and collect old pairs of VEJA and other brands. In July 2021, a new shoemaker's workshop opened in Paris at Galeries Lafayette and so far more than 2,800 shoes have been repaired.

Berlin is an important place in the history of VEJA: it's one of the first cities where the VEJA project started 17 years ago. One of the first cities that welcomed VEJA back then and believed in them from the start. That is why VEJA opens its new store right in the central and historic Mitte district, on Alte Schönhauser Strasse, one of the iconic streets of the German capital.

"A lot of people said to us: 'You shouldn't open in Berlin, it's difficult there.' But we didn't care, we always open projects in the places we love the most. Berlin is a balance between coolness and the weight of history, between modernity and the artistic underground scene. This city reminds us of São Paulo, with its brutalist post-Soviet architecture. Every time we come here, we feel at home." (Sébastien Kopp, VEJA co-founder)

For the design of the store, VEJA chose to work with the Berlin architectural office Gonzalez Haase. They worked with raw materials: concrete, oak, steel and earth.

The inspiration for the 100-square meter shop front lies in the minimalist design of Berlin, which can already be found in the VEJA stores in Paris, Bordeaux and New York. The shoe racks are made from rammed earth, a mixture of earth and concrete. This material was designed by Frank Lennart, a German craftsman. The store will be powered by electricity from the Bürgerwerke, a green electricity provider.

VEJA STORE BERLIN:
OLD SCHÖNHAUSER STR. 42, 10119 BERLIN

OPENING HOURS:
MONDAY TO SATURDAY FROM 10 AM TO 7 PM