Activists recently gathered outside of an Adidas store in New York City on 24 July 2023 to voice their opposition to the company’s usage of kangaroo skin in the manufacture of its shoes. The group, called Their Turn, produces short videos documenting the animal rights movement, and has been gaining traction with its recent large-scale protests regarding animal abuses.

Holding signs which read “Kangaroos are not shoes” and “Just stop the slaughter,” the group posted videos of the protest to its social media channels. One of the TikToks blew up massively and has now reached 477,000 views and 61,000 likes.

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Also featured within the clip were Adidas customers, some of whom didn’t realise that the brand was using kangaroo skin for its shoe leather and expressed remorse. That being said, other customers weren’t so apologetic and asked the group to leave so they could peacefully enjoy the rest of their shopping experience.

Kangaroo skin is a material that’s been used in shoes for quite some time now. However, back in March of this year both Nike and Puma agreed to halt the use of kangaroo leather in all of their products. As reported by The Guardian, the former announced that it would be utilising a new synthetic material “that is a better performance solution and replaces the use of kangaroo leather.”

Animal campaigners have long argued against the use of kangaroo leather, making this action a significant triumph for the community. However, Adidas has failed to follow suit, leading to an increase in pressure for the sporting giant to comply.

@theirturn

A die-in at #adidas in NYC because #kangaroosarenotshoes cc: @adidas

♬ original sound - Donny Moss

Interestingly enough, a majority of the comments were highly critical of the animal activists, with a number of individuals mocking the protests and saying that they were going to “go buy more Adidas shoes now.”

Their Turn definitely doesn’t show any signs of slowing down its campaign and so we should expect to see more protests from the group in the coming weeks, particularly if Adidas refuses to pursue a new kind of cruelty-free leather.