Military Audit - Adidas AG

Target: Adidas AG (and subsidiaries / licensees / franchisees) Audit Phase: Military (Military Forensics) Research Date: 28 June 2026

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified of any contract, tender award, framework agreement, or memorandum of understanding between Adidas AG, adidas Israel Ltd., or any Adidas group entity and the Israeli Ministry of Defence (IMOD), Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Israel Prison Service, Israel Border Police, or any other Israeli state security body. Source classes examined in reaching this conclusion include the IMOD procurement portal, the SIBAT export directory, the Globes Israeli business press ¹, The Times of Israel ², DSCA Foreign Military Sales notification records, the OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in settlement activities ³⁴, the PAX for Peace “Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers” report ⁵, BDS Movement publications ⁶, and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre ⁷.

No public evidence identified of Adidas appearing in SIBAT export directories, Israeli defence exhibition catalogues, or equivalent registries listing Adidas as a participant in Israeli state military or security contracting.

No corporate press releases or government tender announcements documenting defence cooperation, joint ventures, or formal partnership agreements between any Adidas entity and Israeli defence or security bodies have been located in this research. No FMS notification naming Adidas as prime or sub-contractor has been identified through DSCA records ⁵⁶.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

GSG9 Tactical Boot Line

Adidas manufactures and actively markets the GSG9 tactical boot line, a range of ruggedised footwear developed specifically for Germany’s GSG9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9) counter-terrorism special forces unit ⁸⁹¹⁰. Models distributed through law enforcement and military supply channels include the GSG-9.2024 Side-Zip Boot, the GSG-9.2, the GSG-9.3, and the GSG-9.7 ⁸⁹. The range is sold through specialist law enforcement and military retail platforms across multiple jurisdictions, including Galls (a major US law enforcement supplier), Patrol Store, and TacticalGear.com ⁸⁹¹⁰. Product listings on these platforms explicitly describe the boots as worn by “SWAT teams and Germany’s GSG9 special forces group” and as designed for “law enforcement and military professionals” ⁸.

The GSG9 line is not distributed through mainstream sportswear retail channels; it is marketed exclusively as tactical and military-grade footwear, operationally distinct from Adidas’s civilian sportswear catalogue ⁸⁹¹⁰.

Israeli Security-Force Procurement of Adidas Products

No public evidence identified of any IDF, Israeli Border Police, or Israeli Prison Service procurement contract for Adidas GSG9 tactical footwear or any other Adidas product line. While GSG9 boots are available through commercial retail channels accessible within Israel, their end-use by Israeli security forces is not documented in any public procurement record identified in this research ⁸⁹¹⁰.

No export licence applications, end-user certificates, or government export control reviews specifically relating to Adidas products for Israeli defence or security end-users have been identified.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

Adidas AG is a sportswear manufacturer with no known manufacturing, sale, or leasing activity in heavy equipment, construction machinery, armoured engineering vehicles, or military infrastructure systems. No equipment or machinery manufactured by Adidas has been identified as used in settlement construction, maintenance, or demolition activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, or in any military infrastructure project ¹¹.

No construction, engineering, or infrastructure contracts between Adidas and Israeli authorities, municipal settlement bodies, or military engineering units have been identified. Source classes examined include UN OCHA documentation, B’Tselem reporting, and Who Profits machinery and construction-sector profiles ¹¹.

No public evidence identified.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Delta Galil Industries - Global Adidas Underwear Licensee

In June 2021, Adidas AG and Delta Galil Industries Ltd. - a TASE-listed Israeli textile manufacturer - announced a global licensing agreement under which Delta Galil designs, manufactures, and distributes men’s and women’s underwear collections under the Adidas “Badge of Sport” and “Originals” labels ¹²¹³¹⁴. The collections launched commercially in Spring 2022 across APAC, EMEA, Europe, Latin America, and North America ¹²¹³. The Adidas-Delta Galil licensing relationship is a civilian consumer goods arrangement covering underwear and intimates products ¹²¹³¹⁴.

Delta Galil is included in the OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in Israeli settlement activities, as updated in September 2025 and published as A/HRC/60/19 ³⁴. The Wikipedia compilation of the OHCHR database records Delta Galil Industries at row 46 and its subsidiary Delta Israel Brands Ltd. at row 47, under activity category “g” (retail and distribution services operating in settlements) ¹⁵. A prior OHCHR database update was published in June 2023 ¹⁶. The OpenSanctions compilation of the OHCHR settlement dataset confirms Delta Galil’s inclusion in the UN list ¹⁷.

Who Profits documents the following settlement-related activities for Delta Galil: retail branches operated through Delta Israel Brands in the settlement neighbourhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem, and in the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim; and a 1,680 m² warehouse rented and operated in the Barkan Industrial Zone (Barkan settlement, West Bank), documented May 2011 ¹¹. Who Profits classifies Delta Galil under the categories Settlement Enterprise, Services to the Settlements, and Settlement Production, and specifically lists the Adidas brand among Delta Galil’s franchise portfolio ¹¹. The AFSC Investigate platform likewise lists Delta Galil in connection with its OHCHR database inclusion and documents its settlement activities ¹⁸. COSH Eco identifies Adidas among fashion brands sourcing from Delta Galil in its examination of the fashion industry’s links to the occupation ¹⁹.

No evidence has been identified that licensed products manufactured by Delta Galil under the Adidas brand include military-specification, IDF-contracted, or dual-use items ¹²¹³¹⁴.

Claim: Delta Galil Supplies IDF Uniforms

Multiple advocacy sources, including AFSC Investigate and secondary aggregators, assert that Delta Galil “supplies uniforms to the Israeli military (IDF)” ¹⁸. This claim is not confirmed by any primary corporate or government record identified in this research. The Wikipedia article on Delta Galil Industries lists its product categories as underwear, bras, socks, baby clothing, leisurewear, nightwear, and knitted fabrics, with no reference to military uniforms ²⁰. A Times of Israel report specifically examining an IDF uniform procurement identifies Unidress - not Delta Galil - as the contract winner for a NIS 50 million ($14 million) IDF garment deal ². No Delta Galil TASE filings, annual report disclosures, or IMOD tender records confirming an IDF uniform supply relationship have been located in this research. The IDF uniform supply claim therefore remains unverified from primary corporate and government records.

Israeli Defence Prime Contractors

No public evidence identified of Adidas providing components, sub-systems, raw materials, or manufacturing services to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, or IMI Systems. No confirmed joint development or co-production agreements between Adidas and any Israeli defence prime contractor have been identified ⁵⁶.

Fox-Wizel Ltd. (Fox Group)

Who Profits documents Fox-Wizel Ltd. (Fox Group) as an Israeli entity with settlement retail operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory ²¹. No confirmed supply chain relationship, distribution agreement, or franchise arrangement between Adidas AG and Fox-Wizel has been established in this research ²¹.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Adidas holding service contracts - including catering, transportation, fuel supply, waste management, facilities maintenance, or telecommunications services - for IDF bases, military training facilities, detention centres, or security installations in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Source classes examined include IMOD procurement records, BDS investigation reports ⁶, the Who Profits database ¹¹, and the OHCHR settlement database ³.

No public evidence identified of Adidas holding shipping, freight-forwarding, or port-handling contracts specifically servicing Israeli defence logistics or military cargo.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

Adidas AG is a civilian sportswear manufacturer. No role as prime contractor or licensed manufacturer of small arms, artillery, armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, naval vessels, or other lethal platforms has been identified.

No munitions, ammunition, explosive ordnance, chemical propellants, or warhead component supply relationship involving Adidas has been identified.

No involvement by Adidas in Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, or any other Israeli strategic defence or missile defence platform has been identified.

The PAX for Peace report “The Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers” (June 2024), which maps weapons manufacturers and their financial backers in the context of arms transfers to Israel, returned no confirmed reference to Adidas in searches conducted during this research ⁵.

No public evidence identified.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

Export Licence Decisions

No public evidence identified of any government decision - in any jurisdiction - to grant, deny, suspend, or revoke an export licence for Adidas products to Israeli military or security end-users. No export licence database records from HMRC, BAFA (Germany), DG Trésor (France), or BIS/DDTC (United States) specifically naming Adidas in the context of Israeli security-force sales have been identified.

Arms Embargo and Sanctions Compliance

No public evidence identified of investigations, citations, enforcement actions, or financial penalties relating to Adidas and arms embargoes, export control regimes, or targeted sanctions in the context of Israeli security-force supply.

OECD NCP Complaint - Indonesian Supplier

The only identified OECD National Contact Point complaint against Adidas concerns alleged labour abuses at an Indonesian supplier; that case was closed by the German NCP without material remediation ²². This proceeding is not Israel-related and does not concern defence supply, settlement activities, or military procurement.

Palestinian civil society organisations warned Adidas in 2018 that continued sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA) could result in inclusion in the OHCHR database of companies complicit in settlement activities ²³. This constituted a civil society advocacy warning rather than a formal legal or regulatory proceeding, and no NCP complaint specifically addressing Adidas’s settlement-linked business activities has been identified.

No court proceedings, judicial reviews, or formal legal challenges specifically addressing Adidas’s Israeli defence supply relationship or settlement-linked operations have been identified.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

NGO Databases and Reports

Who Profits lists Delta Galil Industries - Adidas’s global underwear licensee since 2021 - in its Israeli Occupation Industry database under the categories Settlement Enterprise, Services to the Settlements, and Settlement Production, and specifically identifies the Adidas brand licence within Delta Galil’s franchise portfolio ¹¹. AFSC Investigate lists Delta Galil in connection with its OHCHR database inclusion and documents its settlement retail and warehouse activities ¹⁸. COSH Eco identifies Adidas among fashion brands sourcing from Delta Galil in its analysis of the fashion industry’s linkages to the Israeli occupation ¹⁹.

The OHCHR database as updated in September 2025 (A/HRC/60/19) lists 314 total entities, including 156 searchable companies ³⁴. The database names Delta Galil Industries and Delta Israel Brands Ltd. but does not list Adidas AG, adidas Israel Ltd., or Electra Consumer Products as business enterprises involved in settlement activities ¹⁵¹⁷. The OpenSanctions compilation of the OHCHR dataset confirms Adidas’s absence from the database as a named entity ¹⁷. A prior update to the OHCHR database was issued in June 2023 ¹⁶.

The UN Special Rapporteur report A/HRC/59/23 (Francesca Albanese, 2 July 2025), examining the economy of occupation, was not text-extractable during this research; no confirmed reference to Adidas has been identified from searches covering this report ²⁴. The PAX for Peace report “The Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers” (June 2024) similarly returned no confirmed reference to Adidas in searches conducted during this research; consistent with Adidas’s civilian product profile, the report’s focus on weapons manufacturers and financiers does not appear to encompass Adidas ⁵.

IFA Sponsorship Campaign (2018)

Over 130 Palestinian football clubs and other civil society organisations campaigned for Adidas to end its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which includes six football clubs based in illegal West Bank settlements ²⁵²⁶. An international petition carrying over 16,000 signatures was delivered to Adidas headquarters in June 2018 ²⁵. Adidas did not renew the IFA contract; the contract expired in July 2018, and the BDS Movement publicly claimed the outcome as a campaign victory ²⁵. Adidas stated that the non-renewal was “not politically motivated” ²⁷. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre documented Adidas’s response in March 2018, in which Adidas acknowledged the settlement-team issue and stated it had raised with FIFA the need to adjudicate on Israeli settlement teams by reference to international law and FIFA’s human rights policy ⁷²³. Palestinian civil society organisations welcomed the end of the partnership following the July 2018 expiry ²³.

Jerusalem Marathon Sponsorship

Adidas previously sponsored the Jerusalem Marathon, whose route passed through the West Bank settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev and occupied East Jerusalem ²⁸. The BDS Movement called for the sponsorship to end ²⁸. Adidas subsequently ceased this sponsorship, though the precise date of cessation has not been confirmed from a primary source identified in this research.

Bella Hadid Campaign Controversy (July 2024)

In July 2024, Adidas dropped Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid from its SL72 shoe campaign after Israeli and pro-Israel critics objected to her inclusion in a campaign referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics, during which 11 Israeli athletes were killed ²⁹³⁰. Adidas CEO Björn Gulden publicly acknowledged the matter as “a mistake in the way that bits and pieces in this campaign were put together” and stated that the company had apologised ²⁹³⁰.

Current BDS Targeting Status and Institutional Divestment

As of the most recent BDS Movement priority targeting guide accessed in this research, Adidas is not listed as a current consumer boycott priority target and is referenced only as a historical precedent of a brand that previously faced and responded to BDS campaigns ⁶. The Canadian BDS Coalition published a boycott page in May 2025 citing three grounds: the Delta Galil licensing agreement; Adidas’s 2024 full consolidation of adidas Israel Ltd. as a wholly-owned subsidiary; and Adidas’s continued commercial operations in Israel during the 2023–2025 conflict period ³¹. Neither that document nor any other source identified in this research makes a claim of direct defence supply by Adidas ³¹¹⁹. No institutional divestment decisions - by pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, or asset managers - specifically targeting Adidas over Israeli defence-related activities have been identified.

Corporate Structural Notes Relevant to Scrutiny

adidas Israel Ltd. is a 100% indirectly owned subsidiary of Adidas AG, held via adidas International B.V. (Amsterdam) ³². On 31 January 2024, Adidas acquired the remaining 15% non-controlling interest in adidas Israel Ltd., making it a fully consolidated wholly-owned subsidiary ³²³¹.

Since October 2023, Electra Consumer Products (ECP) - a TASE-listed Israeli company within the Elco Group - holds the franchise agreement for operating approximately 39–40 Adidas-branded retail stores in Israel, with approximately 400 employees ¹³³. ECP acquired the franchise in stages beginning May 2022, with stores formally transferred on 8 October 2023 ³³. ECP’s subsidiary Yenot Bitan (a food supermarket chain) operates stores in West Bank settlements including Ariel, Alfei Menashe, and Ma’ale Adumim ³⁴. However, no confirmed evidence has been identified that Adidas-branded franchise stores operated by ECP are themselves physically located in West Bank settlements ³⁴. The settlement operations documented for ECP relate exclusively to Yenot Bitan’s food retail activities and are operationally distinct from the Adidas sports retail franchise ³⁴.

In the broader Israeli distribution landscape, the BDS Movement has documented instances of international sportswear brands using Israeli distributors with confirmed settlement retail operations ³⁵.

Who Profits documents Fox-Wizel Ltd. (Fox Group) as an entity with settlement retail operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory ²¹; no confirmed Adidas franchise, supply, or distribution relationship with Fox-Wizel has been established in this research ²¹.

Reebok

Adidas announced the sale of Reebok to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) in August 2021, with the transaction completed on 1 March 2022 ³⁶³⁷. Reebok is no longer an Adidas asset, and any Reebok-related activities conducted under ABG ownership - including a reported IFA sponsorship agreement entered into under ABG - fall outside Adidas’s corporate responsibility chain ³⁶³⁷.

Executive Board - Defence and FIDF Connections

The Adidas Executive Board as of 2024 comprises CEO Björn Gulden (Norwegian), CFO Harm Ohlmeyer (German), Mathieu Sidokpohou (French), and Michelle Robertson (British) ³⁸. No defence industry affiliations, FIDF donation records, Israeli defence-prime equity stakes, or Israeli military affiliations have been identified for any executive board member ³⁸.

Supervisory Board - Defence and FIDF Connections

The Adidas Supervisory Board as of 2024 includes 16 members, among them Thomas Rabe (Bertelsmann), Ian Gallienne (Groupe Bruxelles Lambert), Nassef Sawiris (executive chairman of OCI N.V., a nitrogen and chemicals company), Christian Klein (SAP SE), Jing Ulrich (JPMorgan Chase), and Jackie Joyner-Kersee ³⁹. No defence industry affiliations, FIDF donation records, or Israeli military-industrial connections have been identified for any supervisory board member from public sources ³⁹. No FIDF donations, reservist fund contributions, or co-belligerency statements by any Adidas controlling principal have been identified in this research.

End Notes