adidas Officially Ends Use of Kangaroo Leather in Athletic Footwear
Published
adidas has officially announced that it has ceased sourcing kangaroo skins for its athletic footwear lines, marking a major win for animal welfare advocates. The news came during the company’s Annual General Meeting in Fürth, Germany, where Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy, urged leadership to sever ties with the trade. In response, adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden confirmed the company had exited the practice months prior and would not resume purchasing kangaroo-derived materials.
This announcement completes a wave of policy changes from the world's top athletic shoe brands. With adidas joining Nike, Puma, New Balance, and Diadora in rejecting kangaroo leather, the Center for a Humane Economy's "Kangaroos Are Not Shoes" campaign has reached a pivotal milestone. The movement, launched in 2020, was created to expose the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in Australia — a practice that has killed millions of animals annually, including mothers and their dependent joeys.
With adidas now off the list of major kangaroo leather buyers, activists will focus on Japanese brands ASICS and Mizuno. As Pacelle put it, "With adidas exiting the trade, we have shut down sourcing of skins by the world's top five athletic shoe brands. We now will redouble our efforts… to end this trade once and for all."
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Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy attending concerts and catching the latest movies. Email: nick@soleretriever.com
