Adidas faces pressure from animal rights groups regarding use of kangaroo skins

Adidas is facing heightened pressure from animal rights groups calling on the sportswear giant to cut the use of kangaroo skins in the production of its shoes.

Related organisations are requesting for a ban to be put in place immediately after the Annual General Meeting for Adidas, which took place last week, was disrupted by animal advocates.

Responding to questions from shareholders, Adidas’ CEO Björn Gulden acknowledged that the killing of kangaroos in such a way was “terrible” and added that there could be a “switch faster than you think”.

Director of the ‘Kangaroos Are Not Shoes’ campaign at the Center for a Humane Economy, Jennifer Skiff, is among those, commenting: “We encourage [Gulden] to make that announcement soon, since the worldwide animal welfare community is deeply concerned that Adidas is an outlier on this issue and its sourcing of skins violates its publicly stated policies about the humane treatment of animals.”

Skiff, however, is sceptical towards Adidas’ commitments, with the brand having previously pledged to end its contribution to the kangaroo skin trade in 2012 before later reversing its decision.

Karola Mang, a member of Animal Rebellion who organised the disruption of Adidas’s AGM, stated: “When I found out Adidas was the last major company to support this and was using flimsy excuses to justify their participation, I realised I had to do something against it.”

These comments follow the announcement that competitors such as Nike, New Balance and Puma had agreed to ending their role in the commercial skin trade last year, aligning with the Center for a Human Economy’s campaign.