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Queensland roo tannery 'bending it like Beckham'
27 Oct 2003
Packer Leather, based at Narangba in Queensland, is helping global giants Nike and Adidas in their quest to find the perfect sports footwear. David Beckham's Adidas Predator football boots are made from kangaroo hide supplied by Packer leather.
The company processes 1.5 million to 1.75 million kangaroo hides a year, of which up to 95 per cent are exported. It's one of Australia's largest tanneries and turns over about $37 million a year. Its success earned it the Best Agribusiness award in the 2003 Premier of Queensland's export awards last week.
The family-run Packer Leather was established by Joseph Packer in 1891. It has a seven-person R&D team identifying new opportunities for its K Leather brand kangaroo skins, such as in military, fashion and automotive areas, with a contract recently won with Audi. Sports shoe makers prefer it for some of their boots because it's lightweight and very strong so it has great tensile strength.
Graham Packer defends the use of kangaroo leather, objected to by animal rights groups. He said the RSPCA has done audits and there are strict government regulations relating to the slaughter of the kangaroos.
The Courier-Mail, 27/10/03, page 17.
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