Photo Courtesy of In Defense of Animals.

With spring sports coming up, you might consider buying new cleats or spikes. There are so many different brands and styles to choose from. However, companies have to find their ways to get the best fabrics for affordable prices. For example, many companies like Adidas use kangaroo leather for many types of their shoes.

If you buy leather, there’s often no easy way of knowing what animal skin you’re really wearing. Adidas is not the only company to blame. Kangaroo skin is also used by sporting goods companies like Puma. 

However, Adidas had promised to shift away from using kangaroo to kinder alternatives, and in 2024, they still have not made the shift. These kangaroos are native Australian wildlife and around 1.5 million are killed each year. Wayne Pacelle, President of the Center for a Humane Economy, said in an interview “Adidas has become a notable outlier in the athletic shoe industry by continuing to source kangaroo parts for shoes that can be well-made from other fabrics.”

You may have seen someone in the hallway with the Adidas Samba shoes on. They have made a reappearance in fashion as they have become a trend through social media. Unfortunately, this model is also made out of kangaroo leather. An alternative could be buying from Nike instead, as Nike ended its partnership with its lone kangaroo leather supplier in 2021.

Using kangaroo leather for shoes is just as bad as using cow, goat, or sheep leather – but I was surprised to learn that some of our shoes are made from Australian wildlife. It makes me realize that there might be other things that companies don’t tell us.