The difference between cow leather and kangaroo leather is that the latter is lighter, more flexible, and has a higher abrasion resistance. It makes sense. Breeding programs and modern farming practices have resulted in cows being about as tough and resilient as private school boys. Kangaroos, on the other hand, have their run of the bush, marauding the countryside in huge, sketchy gangs, fucking like mad and kicking the shit out of whatever’s in their way, even if it’s a speeding 800 tonne road train. In other words kangaroos don’t die of old age, they die young, beautiful, and really fucking useful. Take these shoes for example.
Designed for NB by Sneaker Freaker, they’re the only runners in the world that are made from Kangaroo skin. Read more about them here.
my dad shoots roo’s, i shoot my dad.
the marketing for these shoes bothers me. I wouldn’t want pictures of cows hanging out around an ad for my boots, and the kangaroos hopping around these new balances is even worse.
Kangaroo leather is great stuff. I have an excellent pair of shooter’s gloves made from the stuff. It’s light, thin, stronger than leather, and naturally waterproof. Kangaroo leather boots have been available here for years (except in California, where irrational protective instincts for large charismatic animals we’re used to seeing only in cutesy cartoons succeeded in outlawing them, until recently.)
Living in Australia, I’d rather see native habitat livin kangaroos used as leather as opposed to
non native methane farting cattle that need vast blocks of land cleared in order to be farmed. However I think Simple Shoes are doing the best job with there Eco-shoes made from hemp, recycled tyres/shopping bags.
This is fucking disgraceful. The kangaroo meat & skin industry is a shoddy operation (even the goddam Russians are stopping imports due to hygiene concerns, and those guys eat anything), not to mention a national fucking shame (slaughtering an animal on our coat of arms etc).
Well done Vice, a new low.