Dear John,
In a game-changing corporate policy reversal, Puma has announced it will no longer use kangaroo leather in its soccer cleat offerings.
This is an enormous moment in our “Kangaroos Are Not Shoes” campaign, with now the third (Puma) and fourth (Diadora) largest sellers of soccer cleats getting on board with it.
It’s an especially significant gain because it was Puma that started the corporate shift toward kangaroo skins in the late 1960s, achieving a marketing milestone when the soccer legend Pelé laced up PUMA KINGS in a key World Cup game.
The Germany-based brand announced last week it is shedding kangaroo leather, often called K-Leather, for “K-BETTER,” a new, non-animal-based upper material.
“K-BETTER has proven to outperform the previous KING K-Leather in testing for touch, comfort, and durability,” wrote the company in announcing the new policy.
This is perhaps the biggest corporate policy gain in contemporary times in the fight to end the slaughter of two million kangaroos a year, including nearly half-a-million joeys. The switch by Diadora two years ago, and now by Puma, to non-leather soccer cleats will put enormous pressure on the top two sellers (Nike and Adidas).
We are closer than ever now to stopping the global trade in kangaroo parts for footwear for the world’s most popular sport.
Just last week, the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action announced with a Vermont lawmaker the fifth state bill this year to ban the trade in kangaroo parts. Other state and federal bills will soon follow, including measures in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
California, the largest soccer market in the United States, already prohibits selling kangaroo leather. So far, dozens of stores have halted selling shoes made from kangaroo skins after we exposed their illicit sales.
We sent a letter to Nike CEO John Donahue with more than 62,000 names of supporters from around the world who condemn Nike’s continued funding of kangaroo slaughter. We have also placed a series of billboards around Nike’s headquarters to remind the company that this issue won’t go away until the company stops sourcing wild animal parts for its shoes.
Nike and other manufacturers tout their commitment to sustainability and environmental protection, but that’s just empty talk once one understands their central role in the world’s largest commercial slaughter of native mammals. Puma and Diadora are showing the way, and Nike and Adidas should follow.
We are getting close to winning this landmark campaign. With you at our side, we know we can prevail. But this is a tough fight. We need your advocacy and your financial support to close it out.
Kangaroos do not exist to be turned into shoes. Please let us know we can count on you as we work to have the entire athletic shoe sector shed kangaroo skins.
For the kangaroos,
Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
