Tokyo/Sydney | Asics and Mizuno will stop using kangaroo leather in their soccer boots as the sports equipment industry’s last major holdouts abandon a material beloved of elite stars such as Pelé, Diego Maradona and David Beckham.
The decisions by Japan’s two biggest sports shoe makers follow decades of campaigning from activists who argue that the unique combination of lightness, durability, strength and exceptional ball control provided by kangaroo leather comes at the cost of animal cruelty.
