There is always some drama going on about Kangaroo skin in fashion, well any animal skin.
Most recently, rumors were flying around the web stating that Stella McCartney used kangaroo skin in her football boots for her collection for Addidas (she wasn’t). Now California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has signed bills legalizing the purchase of kangaroo products.
The kangaroo proposal, SB 880 by Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, drew intense opposition from animal rights organizations that decried the manner in which the Australian marsupials are killed. But California retailers selling kangaroo soccer shoes said they faced a disadvantage because online firms based in 47 other states can legally sell such products.
“Many good products are made from kangaroos harvested legally under Australian law and the federal Endangered Species Act and those products should be allowed to be on the California market,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. “Importantly, this bill allows California to continue to prohibit the sale of products made from species of kangaroos that are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.”
And as most of us know in Australia (well most of us should know), the country has a plague of grey kangaroos in this country. So they’re definitely not endangered, even if they are cute and cuddly and Australian tourists like to tell people overseas, we ride on them.
Press Statement from Stella McCartney
London, Monday August 27th 2007: We would like to make a comment in
reference to some recent misleading news published in the last days
entertaining the idea that Stella McCartney is actually using kangaroo
leather for the shoes she designs under her well established sportswear
collaboration with adidas, “adidas by Stella McCartney.†These stories are
just simply not true.
Stella McCartney is a lifelong vegetarian and committed advocate of animal
rights and doesn’t use any leather or fur in any of her collections,
including of course, her successful “adidas by Stella McCartneyâ€
collections, which are 100% cruelty free.
All the accessories designed in collaboration with adidas are made with
alternative to leather: high performance fabrics, which don’t use any
animal by products including kangaroo leather.
By using such innovative materials to produce high performance shoes,
Stella McCartney proves that the use of leather is not necessary to achieve
the same performance results and offers the best alternative for the
consumer to decide.
Contact: Stephane Jaspar on 0207 518 3111 or Sjaspar@stellamccartney.com