SPORTING GOODS GIANTS PHASING OUT KANGAROO LEATHER

— Australians, for the most part, are quite cheerful about allowing their national animal to be eaten and worn. Supermarket shelves stock kangaroo meat, and “kangatarianism” — refraining from meat except for kangaroos due to the low fat content and lack of factory farming — has become a fringe diet.

Specialty retailers stock kangaroo leather belts, wallets and bags, while in souvenir stores, small pouches made from the males’ scrotums are a novelty item sold as gifts for people who have everything.

So it has raised eyebrows Down Under that sporting goods giants Nike and Puma have announced they will stop using kangaroo leather in their shoes, amid moves from U.S. state and federal lawmakers to try to ban the sale of kangaroo products.

Nike will phase out the material, known as “k-leather,” through 2023, it said this week. Its soccer boots will instead use a “proprietary” synthetic material. The announcement followed Puma’s two weeks ago that it would replace kangaroo leather with a 20 percent recycled, non-animal material called “k-better.”

The companies did not say they were phasing out the material due to animal welfare concerns. But they, together with Adidas, have been targets of a campaign called “Kangaroos Are Not Shoes,” run by the U.S.-based Center for a Humane Economy.

Asked if Adidas also planned to phase out kangaroo leather, spokesperson Stefan Pursche said it “plays a minor role and is significantly below 1 percent because we’ve been able to substitute kangaroo leather with other innovative materials in many products.”