Popular sports footwear brand New Balance has been fined by Turkiye’s Ministry of Trade Advertisement Board for failing to inform consumers about the use of pigskin in some of its shoe models. The penalty was issued due to the brand’s omission to disclose that certain models sold in Turkiye contained pigskin leather.
According to the board’s findings, New Balance’s Turkish website (with a “.com.tr” domain) listed models such as “W990GL6”, “M2002RST”, “U9060BLK”, and “U991LG2” with general descriptions like “suede”, “mesh”, or “synthetic” only.
However, product descriptions on international sites clearly stated the presence of “pigskin suede” in the same models.
Emphasis on Religious Sensitivities
The board emphasized that according to local regulations, any component that might mislead consumers or conflict with religious sensitivities must be clearly disclosed. It was also noted that the company had previously received a warning and administrative sanctions for a similar issue.
As a result, NBI Giyim A.S. was fined 1,730,000 Turkish lira, and the misleading advertisements were ordered to be withdrawn.
The company had already been penalized in August 2024 for the same reason.
Adidas Also Fined Previously
Earlier, Adidas faced a similar situation when its popular ‘Samba OG’ model, sold in Turkiye, was found to contain pigskin leather. The product was marketed as containing “natural leather” without specific mention of pigskin on its Turkiye sales page.
Source: Patronlar Dünyası/ Prepared by: İlayda Gök