Nike announces it will stop using kangaroo leather for sports boots

The American firm Nike reported that stop using kangaroo leather for your shoes this year, weeks after a similar move by German rival Puma, which would end a highly controversial practice that has drawn the ire of consumers and animal rights activists.

The decision was announced by the sportswear giant with a note to the ‘ESPN’ chain and picked up by the local media, dAfter an Oregon law, the state in which Nike is headquartered prevents the use of “dead kangaroo parts or any product containing dead kangaroo parts.”

The US firm said that will present a new line of football bootsl Tiempo, called Tiempo Legend Elite, with a patented synthetic material that replaces the use of kangaroo leather. Nike uses the skin of this marsupial above all to make football boots.

Nike and Puma’s decision to stop using kangaroo leather in their football boots is a big win for activists for animal welfare, which have long urged companies to abandon unethical practices involving animal cruelty.

“The Nike ad is a seismic event in wildlife protection, and the tremors will be felt around the world, especially in Australia, where the mass commercial killing of kangaroos occurs,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for Humane Economics.