Progress! It’s Game Over for Kangaroo Leather at Adidas and ASICS

Athleticwear giant Adidas took a major step toward a more compassionate future this week by announcing it will no longer use kangaroo leather in its products. The company revealed that they stopped purchasing kangaroo leather in 2024, and confirmed it will discontinue use of the material starting this year.

In response to Adidas’ announcement, Japan-based ASICS followed suit, joining a growing list of sportswear brands—including Puma, Diadora, Sokito, Nike, and New Balance—that have already ended their use of kangaroo skin.

The kangaroo leather trade fuels the mass slaughter of around 2 million kangaroos in Australia every year, which sees whole families of these iconic marsupials violently gunned down in the dead of night for their skins. This horrific killing is primarily driven by the sports industry, with kangaroo leather historically being a preferred material for soccer cleats. Now, with Adidas and ASICS stepping away, nearly all of the world’s top athletic shoe companies have removed themselves from this cruel industry, delivering a major blow to the global demand for kangaroo leather. These announcements also put added pressure on industry holdouts like Mizuno to end their involvement in this gruesome trade.

Although major corporations can lead the shift toward more ethical materials, we also need legislative action to protect kangaroos from brands that would otherwise continue to profit off their suffering. The Kangaroo Protection Act (H.R.1992) would ban the sale of kangaroo leather in the U.S. and ensure that no company can ignore public outrage or industry progress.

You can help this bill become law by signing our petition in support of the Kangaroo Protection Act and by sharing the petition with your network.