I’m back today with another fashion post! Today I wanted to write about my Veja Campo sneakers. I ordered these from Nordstrom a few weeks ago and I struggled with the sizing so I wanted to share my thoughts with you in a blog post. I’ve been seeing Veja sneakers featured by several Youtubers for over a year now, but I was never tempted by them until I saw a photo of the new Spring 2021 colours, which included a pair in white and a beautiful soft mint green. I didn’t even research the different sneaker designs offered by Veja because I knew I wanted the specific pair in this mint colour.
Style
The Campo style is one of Veja’s less athletic-looking, casual sneaker styles. It comes with a rubber sole with not a lot of arch or insole support. The upper is made of a beautiful soft grained calf leather, with vegan suede accents on the back and side of the shoe. In terms of casual leather sneakers, Veja offers the Campo and the Esplar. You can tell the difference between them quickly because the Campos have the word “Veja” stamped twice on the shoe — once on the back and then once on the outer bottom heel of the shoe. The Esplars only have Veja stamped once on the back of the shoe. The Campos are in a grained leather, versus the Esplars have a smooth leather upper.
In terms of design, the Campos are a slightly wider shoe compared to the Esplar. The Esplars are slimmer and sleeker looking. I have relatively large feet (size US 9) so the Campos can look a bit chunky, since they are wider. That being said, I don’t mind at all because I love the mint colour. If you’re not particular about the colour, then you might need to take a closer look at the Campos vs. Esplar. I personally prefer the grained leather on the Campo as well because it helps to mask imperfections. Smooth leather is hard enough to maintain, let alone being on shoes!
Price-wise, these are on the more expensive side for Vejas. They are priced at C$190, versus the Esplars are C$120-150. The V-10s, which are the most popular Veja style, are slightly pricier at C$200.
Sizing
Contrary to popular belief — Veja Campos do NOT run big.
I had a lot of trouble finding my size, especially since I ordered online. Vejas come in full sizes, and I kept reading on multiple sites that they fit large and if you have a half size shoe, to go down the half size. I’m a European size 39 for 98% of my shoes, so I ordered my true European size 39. Unknown to me was that European size 39 were converted by Vejas to be a US size 8, which is not my size (I’m a US size 9). Also when I got the shoe, they ended up being too small. I returned those and then got the European size 40, which were a perfect fit with a bit of wiggle room in the toes, which is how I prefer my sneakers to fit.
I really think that for these shoes, you should go into the store to try them on if possible, or order online from a place that has flexible returns and exchanges. I almost ordered these off of MatchesFashion, which would have been cheaper for me but the return process would have been a lot harder.
Comfort
The Campos are pretty darn comfortable pretty much immediately, however similar to other people, I had some issues with the tongue irritating the top of my foot. I ended up trying to break them in at home while wearing thicker athletic socks so that I can soften the tongue. Otherwise, the shoe itself didn’t require much breaking in, just the stiff tongue.
Quality
I love the grained leather on these shoes. They immediately make the shoes look and feel more higher quality than say a pair of Adidas Stan Smiths (or other Adidas white sneakers). The Campos feel very substantial and well made, and are slightly heavier than my Adidas sneakers, but they don’t bother me at all. After wearing them for a while, the leather does crease, but it’s not super noticeable because of the grained leather. I’m pretty happy with the quality and believe they will hold up well even with a lot of wear.
Overall
I love these, and I actually immediately ordered another pair — the V-10 in white with black accents (got them for half price at Nordstom!). My only issue is I tend to be clumsy and also quite lazy with my shoes, so I need to try extra hard to maintain the cleanliness of them over time. White sneakers are classic, and are super easy to style, so you can wear these for years and years to come.
What do you think, do you like the look of these shoes?
