Ride Smart. Go K-Free!
Kangaroo skin belongs on kangaroos, not on the racetrack.
The problem: Most motorcycle racing suits are still made with kangaroo leather. In 2026, nearly 9 in 10 riders on the MotoGP and WorldSBK grids raced in suits made with kangaroo skin.
Kangaroos are a keystone species and an essential part of Australian biodiversity. That skin is taken from wild kangaroos shot at night in the Australian bush, with no one monitoring at the point of kill. This means that up to 40% are mis-shot and left to die slowly and in pain.
Mothers are shot with joeys still in their pouches. Those joeys are then bludgeoned to death, decapitated, or left to starve. At least 400,000 joeys die this way every year.
Kangaroos have been on the landscape for 20 million years and their mass exploitation began when colonisation began.
Kangaroo grazing keeps grasslands healthy and supports many other native plants and animals. When they disappear, the whole landscape suffers.
All for a racing suit that doesn't need to be made from them.
It doesn't have to be this way: The rules governing Motorsport already allow non-animal alternatives. Motorcycling's world governing body, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), allows race suits made of "leather or an equivalent material."
What matters is passing the safety tests, not the animal skin. Synthetic suits offer the same protection receiving safety certification. One rider is already racing in a synthetic suit in the World Superbike Championship.
Same safety. No kangaroos killed for sporting entertainment.
What the Campaign is asking for:
Suit-makers including Alpinestars and Dainese to switch to animal-free materials by 2027
Teams to choose suits that are free of animal leather
Racing organisers to back the change and promote K-Free and no-animal alternatives
Riders to make the switch and tell their fans
World champion back the campaign: Former 250cc world champion Marco Melandri has joined the campaign. He raced at the top level for more than 20 years.
"I wore those suits for years without ever wondering what they were made of. Now I know."
The campaign so far:
May 2026: Launched at the Italian MotoGP at the Mugello Circuit, Tuscany
September 2026: At the San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
October 2026: Coming to Australia for World Kangaroo Day and the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island
Our partnership with LAV:
Ride Smart. Go K-Free! is led by LAV (Lega Anti Vivisezione), one of Italy's largest animal protection organisations.
Kangaroos Alive and LAV have worked together since 2019. Together we have taken the kangaroo's story to audiences across Italy and Europe, including the European Parliament.
LAV is a valued sponsor of World Kangaroo Day and a member of the European Kangaroo Taskforce. It also funds essential kangaroo rescue work here in Australia, caring for injured and orphaned kangaroos and joeys.
This month, the LAV team is coming to Australia to celebrate World Kangaroo Day alongside Kangaroos Alive on 24 October and to take the campaign to Phillip Island.
The world is already speaking up: More than 80 scientists, academics, ethicists and animal protection organisations around the world have signed A Global Declaration of the Kangaroo Welfare Crisis.
The Declaration calls the commercial kangaroo industry the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife on Earth. It calls for an immediate end to commercial kangaroo killing.
Nike, Puma and Diadora have already dropped kangaroo leather from their football boots.
Now it's motorsport's turn. Because fast doesn't need to be cruel.
