Turkey has imposed a fine exceeding $15,000 on Adidas for not informing consumers that one of its popular footwear models contained pigskin.
The German sportswear company was penalized 550,059 Turkish lira ($15,200) by the country’s advertising regulator for misleading product descriptions.
Authorities criticized Adidas for marketing the “Samba OG” sneakers—favored by celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid—as being made from “real leather” without specifying that the material included pigskin.
A ruling obtained by a foreign news agency on Thursday emphasized that any materials conflicting with the religious beliefs of the majority population must be explicitly stated in advertisements and product details.
Adidas acknowledged the fine and confirmed that it had revised the product description on its Turkish e-commerce platform. “Following an individual notification regarding a product description on our Turkish e-commerce website, we have updated the material specifications for the product accordingly,” the company said in a brief statement.
In 2020, Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs declared that manufacturing footwear or clothing from pigskin or pigskin hair is impermissible. The ruling further stated that pigskin cannot be purified through tanning or similar treatments, a stance widely upheld by Islamic scholars.
