Nike, the world’s largest sports brand, announced that it would no longer use kangaroo leather, which was used to make soccer boots.
According to the Guardian and 9 News Australia on the 15th (local time), Nike said in a statement the previous day, “From this year, we will stop producing products using kangaroo leather.”
Until now, Nike has been producing premium soccer boots, ‘Tiempo’, and some products with natural kangaroo leather. Nike announced plans to use its own special synthetic leather instead of kangaroo leather for these products in the future.
Until recently, animal rights groups have called on sports brands, including Nike, to stop using kangaroo leather.
They have argued that shoe manufacturers are just as cruel and barbaric because they obtain their hides by capturing and slaughtering wild kangaroos rather than breeding them.
Accordingly, luxury brands such as German sports brands Puma, Versace, and Prada stopped using kangaroo leather before Nike did.
The US state of Connecticut is discussing a law banning the sale of products made from kangaroos, and Oregon, where Nike is headquartered, has proposed a bill banning the sale or commercial exchange of “products using dead kangaroos” from 2023. The European Union is also considering a bill to ban imports of kangaroo meat and hides from Australia.
Wayne Parsell, CEO of Humane Economy, an international animal protection organization, welcomed the announcement, saying, “Nike’s announcement is a big change in wildlife conservation.”
On the other hand, the Australian Kangaroo Industry Association (KIAA) refuted Nike’s decision, saying, “It is not because of kangaroo protection, but because it has secured better synthetic materials,” and that it is not a bad thing to use kangaroos commercially.
It is now legal in Australia to hunt and capture wild kangaroos for commercial purposes. KIAA said the scale of the kangaroo industry in Australia is worth $200 million (260.4 billion won) and creates 3,000 jobs.
The KIAA warned, “If kangaroos are not commercially captured, the kangaroo population will increase too much, causing damage to farmland and other animals.”
“Kangaroos emit about one-third of the carbon emissions of cattle and sheep and do not require water or grazing land for breeding, so they should be encouraged to be used as alternatives to cattle and sheep for the environment,” he said.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.