UK sportswear firm ditches kangaroo leather over sustainability concerns

Sokito takes a kangaroo-sized leap of faith amid conflicting claims about macropods' resilience to commercial exploitation.

Featured image via Chris Samuel / Flickr, cropped to 1019 × 546, licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED

A UK-based firm that aims to be “the world’s most eco-friendly football boot brand” has ditched kangaroo leather. Sokito made the decision to eliminate the material from its products amid concerns about sustainability of the trade.

Some argue that populations of Australia’s national icon could be in peril due to trade and further factors, while others suggest the macropods are abundant and resilient to commercial exploitation. In the face of such conflicting claims, what is a sustainability-focused company supposed to do?

For Sokito the answer is simple: take a precautionary, kangaroo-sized leap of faith.

A bold move

On 10 April, Sokito announced that it is phasing out kangaroo leather “with immediate effect” after founder Jake Hardy and the board of directors voted to exclusively use vegan materials in its products.

In a press release, the company noted that its decision comes amid growing concerns about the management of kangaroo populations. This management includes large-scale commercial killing of the macropods, which is the industry that supplies demand for their skins and meat. Hardy said:

As a brand that represents a sustainable and ethical choice for footballers, our materials and supply chain practices must be of the highest standard.

Sokito is the fourth football boot producer to move away from the material as giants like Nike, Puma, and New Balance made varied commitments to phase out kangaroo leather in 2023.

Sokito is a young company that only launched its first football boot – the Devista – in mid-2022. Eliminating kangaroo leather from its products now essentially means that boot spent more years in development than on the shelves. This is a bold move from a firm that is still finding its feet in the sporting goods industry. 

But Sokito is no stranger to gutsy endeavours, with the company already laying claim to some world firsts, including creating the first football boot – the Devista Vegan – to be certified by The Vegan Society.

It is now committed to using vegan material, which combines recycled and bio-based materials, across its products. Hardy explained:

We have successfully developed a vegan certified football boot so we know that there are alternative materials on the market today that can perform just as well as animal leather.

Counting kangaroos

A heated debate over the kangaroo trade has raged for years, with population estimates at the core of concerns over its sustainability. States that permit commercial slaughter conduct kangaroo counts to estimate numbers and determine kill quotas.

In the decade up to 2021, commercial slaughter claimed the lives of around one and half million kangaroos a year on average, although quotas are often far in excess of the numbers actually killed. The industry is worth more than 200 million Australian dollars annually, as Yahoo News Australia has reported.

The mainland states where commercial slaughter was permitted in 2022 were New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. Their combined population estimates for all the macropod species subject to the commercial program totalled around 30.6 million individuals.

The combined quotas for those states that year amounted to about 14 percent of the total figure, equating to over 4.3 million individuals. The quotas for individual species in each state ranged from an offtake of 6.7 percent to 19.1 percent of their populations.

In a 2022 paper titled The Number game: Counting Kangaroos, David Brooks investigated NSW’s population estimates across various years. The honorary associate professor at the University of Sydney asserted that the estimates contained regular incidences of “extraordinary annual population growth rates,” which were the result of “inflationary systemic biases.”

Comparing NSW’s figures to what is biologically possible, Brooks argued that quotas were set at a rate higher than kangaroos’ regenerative capacity. He is unequivocal when asked whether the commercial trade is sustainable:

I would say with conviction that the trade is not sustainable. Beneath the scandalous façade of official population estimates the populations of the kangaroos concerned are in decline, both in terms of population size and population health.

NSW inquiry

Ecologist Raymond Mjadwesch also questioned the reliability of NSW’s estimates in submissions provided to a parliamentary inquiry in 2021. “Good science relies on repeated and replicated methodologies”, noted Mjadwesch, adding that “kangaroo monitoring in NSW has failed in this regard completely.” He argued NSW’s estimates were masking that “kangaroo populations are in serious decline.”

In its response to the inquiry, the NSW government said its commercial slaughter quotas are conservative and based on “best available science that considers the population reproduction and attrition rates.” It further stated that quotas are responsive to changes in kangaroo numbers, with the primary goal being to ensure their populations “remain ecologically viable.”

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Victoria has also faced criticisms over its estimates. In 2022, biostatistician Claire Galea conducted analysis that found there was insufficient data on Victoria’s kangaroos to establish safe quotas, with the state using information from kangaroo populations elsewhere in its determinations, among other issues. Galea told Yahoo News Australia, “as a statistician, I have no confidence in their population estimates.”

Victoria’s environment department disputed Galea’s findings. It said the report misrepresented the science behind its commercial slaughter program and contained inaccurate information.

Galea gave evidence to the NSW kangaroo inquiry too. She tells The 4 Percent that the University of St Andrews, which developed the software used in the NSW counts, conducted a review of the state’s work. It shows there have been "significant flaws in the way the surveys are conducted and how the data has been analysed and therefore any population estimates obtained are unreliable," says Galea.

NSW’s Department of Planning and Environment acknowledges that it has received a report from the university and is considering its recommendations. A spokesperson said:

Overall the review found the Kangaroo Management Plan (KMP) is thorough and has considered all aspects of the survey. The report highlighted areas in which they consider the KMP to be following best practice and to have taken steps to overcome the challenges presented by this type of survey.

Declining takes and expanding boundaries

For Brooks, evidence of declining kangaroo populations can be found in the ‘take’ figures for the industry, meaning how many animals are actually killed. He explains that in the decade from 1993 to 2002, NSW’s take was an average of 75% of the yearly quota. Between 2010 and 2019, however, the average take dropped to 22%.

In other words, commercial shooters are “not able to find enough kangaroos to get anywhere near the quota permitted them,” says Brooks. Similarly, Mjadwesch argued during the NSW inquiry that studies have consistently shown “declining take is a reliable indicator of the trajectory of populations of exploited species.”

Between 2010 and 2019, the slaughter averages of other key states – Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland – were 39%, 21%, and 30%, of the yearly quotas, respectively.

Campaigner Robyn Parnell, who has reviewed slaughter records for an upcoming book, says the annual kill figures in her home state of South Australia have remained fairly consistent since 2009. But she points out that the number of zones where the macropods can be targeted have expanded in recent years, with four new areas added in 2020. Moreover, new species were permitted to be killed that same year, namely the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Tammar Wallaby.

Mainland companies have also sought access to macropods elsewhere. In 2021, for instance, Wild Game Resources Australia (WGRA), which operates in Queensland and NSW, requested approval for harvesting and exporting up to 150,000 Bennett’s Wallabies and Rufus Wallabies from Tasmania. The operation was approved in September that year.

The two species are already subjected to significant levels of killing in Tasmania, often non-commercially on private land. The WGRA proposal aimed to tap into this existing culling by utilising those carcasses, it said.

Brooks says this points to the unsustainability of the kangaroo industry too, with “shortages” on the mainland forcing companies to “look further afield for ‘product’.” 

Environmental disasters

Approached by The 4 Percent for comment on why take figures have declined, president of the Australian Wild Game Industry Council Ray Borda said the commercial program is permitted in states and territories with “high kangaroo populations.” He continued:

Australian state governments have developed unique kangaroo management plans to conserve kangaroos, measure populations, set boundaries for the harvest, outline how it will be regulated, and ensure it’s not detrimental to the animals or their ecosystems.

There are triggers put in place as part of the government’s kangaroo management programs in each state that halt harvesting should population numbers go below a certain level to avoid any long-term impact on kangaroo populations. This is standard practice and does occur in different regions from time to time due to weather conditions and other variables.

Still, some states have come under fire for permitting commercial killing to proceed to varying extents in the wake of environmental disasters, such as floods in 2022-23 and the catastrophic bushfires of 2019-20.

Image via Rob and Stephanie Levy / Wikimedia, cropped to 800 × 492, licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED

Farming and the environment

On its website, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water states that kangaroo populations have seen “no adverse long-term impacts” from the commercial slaughter policy over the course of the last 30 years. It also says that some states deem the removal of kangaroos necessary to limit the animals’ impact on farming and the environment.

Kangaroos are generally perceived as ‘pests’ by farmers, a sector that accounts for over half of Australia’s land use. Some studies have also linked the grazing of kangaroos and other native herbivores like rabbits to depleted plant and soil health. For these reasons, Borda argues:

In the absence of a commercial industry, conservation culling would still need to occur to manage the populations of certain species. A strictly regulated and ethical commercial industry has the ability to make use of kangaroos that would otherwise need to be discarded. It ensures kangaroos are harvested humanely by licensed and qualified shooters, in sustainable numbers that are traced and recorded, and are used to create high-quality products that bring jobs and money into the economy.

He adds that there is a need for greater awareness of “the benefits of managing overabundant kangaroos including increased biodiversity and sustainability, a reduction in animal welfare outcomes, and waste reduction.”

However, a 2018 report on kangaroo management in South Australia highlighted that there are knowledge gaps regarding kangaroos’ impact on farming and the environment. It said the understanding of macropods’ impact on conservation, such as how their grazing affects other native animals, was “particularly lacking.”

Moreover, a study that same year found that, while farmed animal grazing negatively impacts native plant richness in Australia’s dry rangelands, kangaroo grazing has a positive impact under low productivity. “Even at reportedly high densities, kangaroo effects were either benign or had no effects” on plant richness overall, it said.

Kangaroos in drought

In 2022, several researchers released a statement on kangaroo management. It partly aimed to challenge the idea “that commercial harvesting of overabundant macropods is contrary to enhancing their welfare, conservation and cultural status.” The researchers asserted that on welfare grounds “regulated and accredited harvesting of overabundant macropods” is preferable to kangaroos dying during drought, which can cause high levels of mortality among populations.

Similarly, Borda argues that a “controlled and transparent commercial harvest is one-way governments keep certain abundant species of kangaroos at sustainable levels, particularly during events such as severe drought.”

In his evidence to the NSW inquiry, however, Mjadwesch objected to the idea that commercial shooting is the answer to drought-related kangaroo deaths. He suggested the industry would reject dying kangaroos “on account of their poor condition.” Instead, professional shooters “shoot the healthy kangaroos, which may have survived the drought,” he added.

The 2022 statement was endorsed by some farming interest groups, conservation NGOs, and indigenous groups. During the NSW inquiry, other indigenous representatives spoke out against commercial slaughter, such as Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison, an elder from the Yuin people. He commented:

The kangaroo preceded our Indigenous culture more than 80,000 years ago and deserves both the land and living rights above all other introduced species, the right to live without cruelty and exploitation.

The time is right

The commercial trade in kangaroos is one of several contributors to macropod mortality in Australia, with habitat loss, fencing, licensed non-commercial killing, and traffic collisions, also impacting their numbers.

The commercial slaughter claims more lives than the take figures account for. As Faunalytics has reported, many in-pouch joeys die due to the policy, as they are supposed to be killed by “blunt force trauma or decapitation” when shooters kill their mothers. Some kangaroos also escape after being shot but die later of their wounds.

The Center for a Humane Economy’s Jennifer Skiff says at-foot joeys are also impacted:

At-foot joeys are young kangaroos who are out of the pouch but are dependent on their mothers for milk and protection. When their mothers are shot, they escape with the rest of the mob. However, without their mothers, these joeys most often die of starvation over a period of weeks. 

The director of the Center’s Kangaroos Are Not Shoes campaign says this is an “unequivocally cruel aspect of the commercial hunt.”

Ethical objections feature heavily in criticism of the policy and have likely played a role in the decision of some fashion and sportswear companies to disassociate themselves from kangaroo products. For Sokito, the sustainability and management of the industry has factored into its decision-making too.

The Animal Justice Party’s Louise Ward praised the company for doing “its homework, researching Australia’s kangaroo industry and uncovering the truth. Declining numbers, lack of government regulation, and cruelty.”

Hardy says Sokito is happy to share its findings with any brands still using the material and contemplating switching to a more “planet friendly material.”

“The time is right to phase out kangaroo leather,” he adds.  

This post was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.