New Balance’s Home Turf Hit with Blitz of Anti-Leather Appeals from PETA

For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2025

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

Shoppers hoping to snag some sneakers at the New Balance store on Newbury Street may be kicking those leather kicks to the curb once they spot a thought-provoking new appeal PETA has plastered throughout Massachusetts Ave Station and Copley Station—just a small jog away from the Boston-based brand’s special concept store. The visual shows a mother cow nuzzling her baby but quickly transitions to reveal the calf standing alone—along with the pointed message, “Your New Shoes Stole My Mom. Leather Costs Lives. Please, Wear Vegan.” PETA hopes the ad will prompt New Balance to embrace a new concept: shoes without suffering.

“Behind every pair of leather sneakers is a thinking, feeling being who loved their family, valued their own life, and didn’t want to be killed for a shoe,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is encouraging shoppers everywhere to put their best foot forward by choosing trendy vegan sneakers that leave cows in peace.”

Cows have friends and mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. Yet cows killed for leather are skinned and dismembered—some while still conscious—after they’ve endured castration (for males), branding, and tail docking, often without painkillers. In addition to inflicting horrific cruelty on animals, the leather industry is a major contributor to climate change, land devastation, deforestation, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Vegan leathers are durable and fashionable without the cruelty or environmental destruction of leather.

PETA’s ad can be seen on a dozen digital displays located throughout Massachusetts Ave Station, just a short walk from New Balance’s Newbury Street location, as well as on nearly two dozen displays throughout Copley Station once it reopens on December 22—even closer to New Balance’s Newbury store.  

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.