Videos circulating on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube claim that sportswear brand Nike uses dog skin to produce some of their footwear. According to these videos, which appear to be made using AI generated visuals, Nike’s leather shoes are actually made with dog skin – with dogs being illegally and cruelly bred for this purpose. According to the videos, this is being done on a large scale – with factories churning out large quantities of shoes for unsuspecting Nike customers.However, although startling, the combination of AI generated imagery and lack of any cited sources when it comes to the claims being made was suspicious to us. Given the prominence of Nike as a brand and the seriousness of the claim, the lack of any proof in the video is compounded by a similar dearth of coverage by any credible news platforms.
According to our research, a series of exposes made around a decade ago by animal rights groups did accuse factories in China of killing dogs for leather. And, a significant percentage of Nike’s shoes are manufactured in China. However, it has also been pointed out that the scale at which the alleged dog leather factories operated was relatively small and uncommon even in China. We were also unable to find any credible exposes or well-supported theories that ties dog leather to Nike’s shoe manufacturing – much less at the magnitude claimed by the video.
Instead, the first instance of this claim being made goes back to December 2024 in a video posted to TikTok by a user, mysterycarlson, who has posted numerous AI generated videos about a wide range of conspiracy theories – from aliens building the pyramids to Pringles not being made of real potatoes. Both the video and the audio narration appear to be AI generated, making eye-catching claims that attract many views and comments. In our view, this account appears to be content farming – a phenomenon BDR has covered previously where certain users produce large amounts of content with the aim of garnering engagement for profit through virality. The original video seems to have spawned many other copycats which feed off its content to continue spreading this unsubstantiated claim.
A look at Nike’s own manufacturing and sustainability policies further suggests that the claim is not based on factual information. In their Animal Skins Policy, Nike explicitly forbids the use of exotic skins and any “species of domesticated or feral dog or cat.”
Given the lack of any supporting evidence and Nike’s own publicly available animal skin policy, the claim videos are highly suspect and appear to be fabricating claims to gain attention on social media. We therefore give this claim a rating of false.
While a great deal of misinformation circulating online relies on misinterpretation or inaccurate and misleading language, this claim is an example of outright fabrications – not based on existing theories or speculation, but rather entirely made up. These fabrications do, however, use existing buzzwords, conspiracies, and anxieties (such as “secrets of the global elites” or the fear of shady manufacturing practices) to make their claims shareable and, at least to some, believable.