VEJA Volley review

Let this retired volleyball player dive into your heart if:

• You're looking for a lightweight and comfortable shoe to wear casually with most of your outfits.
• You need something durable and stylish to show off (solely) around town.
• You want a pair of sneakers made using high-quality materials but you don't want to deal with a break-in period.
• You have that green mindset but the Adidas Samba makes you go crazy.

If you're looking for a new pair of daily beaters to wear all day and every single day, we don't think this VEJA model is what you need. As long as you don't mind changing brands, we'd definitely recommend having a look at some New Balance sneakers. These models are incredibly comfortable, and this brand is known for its fantastic underfoot support. Additionally, and unlike the Volley, they have cushy midsoles that will help your feet feel free of fatigue.

Also, if you live somewhere hot or you want a new pair of sneakers to show off in the summer, it's better to skip the Volley. The premium leather of this shoe is absolutely not breathable, but don't worry, we have plenty of well-ventilated alternatives right here.

The 18.5 mm heel stack of this shoe speaks about minimalism just as loudly as anyone else. Even though our feet were pretty close to the floor, we were never uncomfortable or left wishing this VEJA model had more cushioning.

The same goes for the toe area, as the forefoot stack of the Volley only reaches 10.9 mm. Even though this shoe is neither plush nor bouncy, we could wear it for hours without feeling any discomfort. Grabbing lunch with friends or going for a drink were 2 wonderful plans to show this VEJA off!

Even though according to our extensive guide on the matter the VEJA Volley has a mid drop (7.6 mm), there aren't many sneakers that have a drop lower than 8 mm. That being said, we need to take into account the fact that, nowadays, chunky shoes are still super trendy, and those tend to have a steeper drop due to their tall heel.

But anyway, even though this pair doesn't feel totally flat, it'll definitely feel flatter than other more buffed up sneakers. If that's what you're used to, the difference might be noticeable, but not necessarily negative!

The Volley does not have a midsole, which means its insole bears the whole burden of the cushioning on its own. At a massive 10.7 mm, it definitely offers the softness needed to make the experience comfortable. Even though this might not be the best pair of daily beaters to wear from sunrise to sunset, our wear tests confirm it's nice enough to enjoy it for hours.

We poured our gel into the Volley to learn it all about its toebox. Freezing things up, we got a perfect mold of this shoe's interiors.

Our caliper returned 91.5 mm when we measured its widest part, which is slightly lower than average. As expected, this VEJA doesn't have a very spacious toebox, but our standard-width feet were okay with it.

The toebox follows the same logic at the big toe. Our caliper returned 67.8 mm, which is once again lower than average, but nothing unexpected. With such a snug fit, we can see wide-feet sneakerheads agreeing on the Volley not being their cup of tea.

Last but not least, we measured the toebox's height. At 26.6 mm, it sits quite low, and the suede overlay was not going to be the one to give in in this war against our toes! So don't expect this shoe to be stretchy... what you see is what you get!

Despite being a former volleyball shoe, this VEJA pair has most likely traded all its lateral support to get extra points in style. It lacks lateral stability for any sporty activities, but walking around town with it is definitely not a problem. In our wear tests we trust!

If we could give this shoe a -1 in torsional rigidity, we wouldn't even think about it twice. It was so easy to twist that we felt as if we were wringing a wet towel, so we decided to give the Volley the lowest score on this test: a 1/5!

The heel counter fought our fingers a bit more. This meant it also provided us with a little bit more support. Still, as we've mentioned before, this shoe is not designed for any sporty activities! We gave it a 2/5 on our heel counter stiffness test, which translated into great comfort from the very first minute, with no rubs or blisters to beware of.

We thought this Samba doppelgänger would have a narrower midsole, so we were pleasantly surprised when our caliper returned 107.4 mm. Our standard-width feet had enough space to land comfortably, but by saying "enough" we definitely don't mean "plenty"!

The midsole is also narrower than average at the heel. Our caliper returned 78.8 mm, so there isn't really a lot of space here either! But don't worry, this shoe's landing platform is still wide enough for you not to feel unstable.

Leaving the volley behind to become a gymnast, this VEJA pair did a handstand on our 90-degree flex test needing only 10.4N of force. This is way less than average, which means the Volley is incredibly more flexible than most sneakers.

During our wear tests, this translated into an amazingly comfortable and easy ride. The shoe bent alongside our feet from the very first moment we put it on, and we didn't have to deal with any uncomfortable break-in period or overall stiffness.

In our experience, this shoe feels pretty lightweight. Its feathery nature was a given to us as soon as we took it out of the box and put it on. You barely feel it, as it follows your feet moves closely and doesn't have any intrusive elements that will disrupt your experience. When we took it to the lab, our scale marked 12.56 oz/356g, which is considerably less than average.

The full suede and leather upper of this shoe didn't leave much room for airflow. We verified it as soon as we put its cut-up half in front of our LED in the lab.

The light could only shine through the eyelets, but the laces are gonna be there, obviously, so that's not an effective ventilation hole. We couldn't find any others, which is definitely not promising regarding breathability.

Our smoke test confirmed the disaster that we were anticipating. The ASICS Gel NYC worked as an example of how to do things with top-tier airflow (just look at that!). On the other hand, our VEJA... just showed how not to be a summer shoe. It didn't let any air come in and out, so we couldn't give it any other score than an awful 1/5 on our breathability test.

There's no way the air could flow through such a solid upper with no holes. According to the brand, the material used is organic Traced leather (O.T.), which comes from 100% certified organic farms in Uruguay. We're big fans of greener approaches regarding shoes, but in this case, it means the Volley is not the best option for the summer... or even warm seasons in general.

The materials used for this upper are all authentic. We burned the white leather under the padding that surrounds the heel collar and right next to the eyelets, and none of it became disgustingly sticky or anything like that.

We also moved our torch all the way to the front, yet we weren't met with a flame when we heated things up in the suede protective layer. There's not a single trace of fake materials here!

The awful score on breathability of this shoe paid back greatly with its wonderful durability. At 5K RPM and with 2N of force, our Dremel couldn't do much to this fighter. As the damage caused didn't even risk the integrity of the shoe, we could happily give it a solid 4/5 on our toebox durability test.

Nevertheless, the frail lining wasn't that much of a fighter. What felt like a snowstorm in our lab ended up with a big messy hole at the back of this VEJA. The durability was so low that we could only give it a 1/5 on our test... bye-bye heel padding!

According to the official webpage of this shoe, its outsole is made using Amazonian rubber (40%), mineral silica (23%), recycled rubber (10%), synthetic rubber (11%), and other materials (16%). This might be why our durometer marked 78.0 HC, and as this score is lower than average, promising slightly better traction than durability.

So we were pleasantly surprised after seeing the results of our outsole durability test. Even though our Dremel went all in at 10K RPM and with 2N of force, the damage left wasn't deeper than 1.0 mm. We were satisfied with it, as this VEJA pair proves proudly that the use of recycled materials doesn't necessarily jeopardize durability.

Even though the material showed great durability, the brand went for a quite thick outsole. Our caliper returned 5.5 mm, and we can understand the reason behind this: this shoe doesn't have a midsole! Consequently, it needs some more materials in order to protect your feet from harsh urban surfaces.

Twisting its roots around volleyball, we can see why this VEJA pair bit the floor easily.

It doesn't feature any lugs or flex grooves, just a multiple-spot pattern throughout the whole area. And even though the sole is not very textured, we were pretty happy with its traction. As long as you stick to standard urban surfaces, the Volley's grip should be more than sufficient!

When it comes to this VEJA, you're paying for its quality materials. We love the fact that the brand focuses on being green, and as we've seen throughout this review, that does not mean its footwear loses quality. This cutie-patootie of a shoe offers wonderful durability on a refined and clean silhouette, and we do believe it's a wonderful option if you're looking for something responsible that looks good with a million outfits.

As expected, the Volley doesn't have any reflective elements. We usually love them, but this time we need to say that we firmly believe they would kind of break the clean aesthetic of the shoe.

These sneakers feature a thin tongue, which we believe is a strategic decision from the brand in order to keep its overall weight low. At 5.0 mm, we never tied our laces tight enough to feel any kind of uncomfortable rub or lace bite. Even though it might be a little bit too thin for some, to us it was just spot-on.

The rest of the upper follows the same logic, saving up some oz to keep this shoe's ride nimble, smooth and easy!

Just like the reflective elements, we believe a heel tab would have also ruined the vibe of this shoe. At the heel, it has a color-blocking patch with the name of the brand creating contrast. A really cool detail that made us say we would happily sacrifice a finger loop on its behalf!

The massive insole of this VEJA is removable, but if you decide to change it for whatever reason, please keep in mind that it's the only piece that separates your feet from the harder outsole. If you want this pair to be comfortable, you'll need something as cushioned as its default insole.