Worldwide Protests Against Adidas Planned to Draw Attention to Athletic Brand’s Central Role in the Slaughter of Kangaroos for Shoes

Sydney, Australia — Animal advocates, including the Center for a Humane Economy, are taking to the streets in a global day of protest against Adidas over its financing of the largest commercial slaughter of wildlife in the world.

Protests are set at Adidas locations around the world for Dec. 2-3, condemning the company’s continued use of kangaroo skins for shoes, even as superior alternatives made from human fabrics are available and widely in use. Nike, Puma, and New Balance this year all pledged to halt their sourcing of kangaroo parts soon, with Nike and Puma ending the use of kangaroo skins entirely by the end of this month.

The Center for a Humane Economy launched its Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign in 2020, collaborating with partners across the world to end the commercial slaughter of kangaroos to make soccer cleats.

“Adidas has long been the biggest apologist and end-user of kangaroo skins for soccer cleats in the world,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action. “It now stands alone among the biggest athletic shoe brands in financing the slaughter of kangaroos, including the mass orphaning of joeys.” 

Louise Ward, state director of the Animal Justice Party in New South Wales, Australia, is leading the event globally and says many Australians are outraged by the commercial kill. “Australians love kangaroos,” noted Ward. “They are treasured and deeply significant to our First Nations people. No one wants their national animal slaughtered for football boots We’re taking our fight against Adidas to the streets globally to shed light on the brutality and cruelty of the kill and to ask for accountability.”

Each night across Australia, kangaroos are killed under the cover of darkness and without oversight. If the orphaned babies escape being bludgeoned against cars or other hard objects – the preferred method of killing them – they often suffer needless deaths due to exposure and starvation.  Adidas, as one of the largest buyers of kangaroo skin, is implicated in driving the ongoing atrocity in its continued manufacturing of football/soccer boots. And the company is now an outlier.

“Killing female kangaroos with joeys in their pouch or at foot and then either bludgeoning the young or orphaning them is the antithesis of humane” said Jennifer Skiff, director of the Kangaroos Aren’t Shoes Campaign at the Center. “Adidas policy mandates that materials of animal origin be obtained humanely and ethically. They know the kangaroo kill doesn’t comply with their standards. We’re asking them to be honest to their own ethos by dropping kangaroo leather.”

Message to Adidas: Stop the Slaughter!

An analysis of the footwear donned by the most elite soccer players in the world º– at the World Cup in 2022 and the European Championships in 2021 – revealed that more than 90 percent of players used shoes not made from kangaroos.

“Adidas claims to source its materials in a humane manner, but the killing of defenseless kangaroos is cowardly, cruel, and unbecoming of a brand that has the financial means to switch to synthetic, cruelty-free materials, said Pan Sander of Their Skin, Hamburg, a group that has been protesting at an Adidas flagship store in Germany. “We will continue to protest Adidas in its own backyard until the company announces an end to its use of kangaroo skin.”

In the United States, activist Donny Moss of Their Turn has been leading the protests. “In New York city alone, the company has several large stores where we have not only disrupted business but have also had one-on-one conversations with hundreds of customers, the majority of whom are disappointed to learn that Adidas is killing kangaroos and using their skin as fabric,” he said. “Our request is simple, and it’s fair. Make the switch from kangaroo skin to cruelty-free materials, which are readily available.”

Activists to Gather at Adidas Stores Globally

This weekend, supported by over 30 animal welfare organizations, protesters will gather to raise awareness of the plight of the Australian kangaroo to Adidas customers with the goal of seeing the company join the ranks of other leading sportswear companies in acknowledging the cruelty of the kill with a promise to end participating in it.

Protests will be held in the following cities:

Australia/New Zealand:

• Sydney
• Melbourne
• Cairns
• Brisbane
• Canberra
• Auckland, NZ
• Christchurch, NZ

North America:

• New York
• Los Angeles
• Toronto, Canada

Europe:

• Frankfurt, Germany
• Dublin, Ireland
• Rome, Italy
• Madrid, Spain
• Roosendaal, Netherlands
• Brussels, Belgium