Adidas has halted the use of kangaroo leather on its sneakers. The decision was confirmed by the global sportswear giant's CEO, Bjørn Gulden, at Adidas' 2025 Annual General Meeting in Germany today. Gulden added that the brand had stopped purchasing kangaroo leather months ago.
The animal welfare organization Center for a Humane Economy has been calling for brands to stop using kangaroo leather in their products since 2020, when it launched its Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign. Through the initiative, the organization has led a series of protests and investigations that expose the inhumane methods of acquiring kangaroo leather.
Since the launch of the campaign, brands like Diadora, Puma, Nike, and New Balance have also announced the end of producing sneakers using kangaroo leather. The organization says that kangaroo deaths related to the sourcing of their leather have already dropped from 2 million to 1.3 million since 2020.
"The mass killing of kangaroos has been driven by exports mainly for kangaroo skins," Wayne Pacelle, the president of the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action, said. "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 secure similar pledges from Japanese companies ASICS and Mizuno and end this trade once and for all."
