Adidas, New Balance, and Asics have officially ended the use of kangaroo leather in footwear products as of January 1, marking another victory for corporate animal welfare.
The three brands join Nike, Puma, Sokito, and Diadora, which have already ended production using kangaroo skin. Umbro also committed to ending use this year and Mizuno vowed to phasing out all kangaroo leather from its models.
With nine major athletic footwear companies having ended or pledged to end the practice, the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign has achieved a victory that is unprecedented in scale and impact.
“This is a triumph of moral intention but also of human ingenuity at work to develop alternative products that perform for consumers,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy. “We can have it both ways – doing the right thing and delivering for consumers.”
The Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action, both based in Washington, DC, launched the campaign in 2020 with the aim of getting athletic wear shoemakers that used kangaroo leather for soccer cleats to stop using it.
Approximately 2 million kangaroos are killed in Australia’s commercial hunting industry each year.
According to Jennifer Skiff, director of the Kangaroos Are Not Shoes, the campaign employed a multi-faceted strategy including direct corporate outreach, shareholder engagement, consumer education, and grassroots activism.
“Each company chose to stop using kangaroo skin based on the facts we provided,” Skiff said. “Working together as a global team, we created an epochal shift by exposing the truth behind the kill. These wins send a clear message to other companies: cruelty has no place in commerce.”
Looking ahead, the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action are turning their attention to the larger set of kangaroo products in trade, including skins for uses other than athletic shoes and meat for pet food.
The organisations are pushing forward with the Kangaroo Protection Act in the US Congress, which would ban the import of kangaroo body parts or products made from kangaroo into the US.
