INDEX / DIRECTORY / BROOKS RUNNING / ECONOMIC

Brooks Running ECONOMIC

ECONOMIC AUDIT UPDATED 2026-09-08
Economic Score 7.23 /10 B Brooks Running - BDS-1000 666
Economic 7.23

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

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Supply Chain & Sourcing Relationships

Brooks Running markets performance running footwear and apparel. Its disclosed Tier-1 manufacturing footprint includes facilities in Vietnam (9), Indonesia (1), Taiwan (2), the United States (1), El Salvador (1), Peru (1), and the Philippines (1); no Israel-based Tier-1 or disclosed Tier-2 facility appears in the reported footprint.1, 2 no public evidence identified of Brooks sourcing from Israeli agricultural exporters, including Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export, or Agrexco successors, or of produce-style counter-seasonal sourcing arrangements, which are not applicable to the footwear-and-apparel category.1, 2

Brooks-branded products are distributed in Israel by R.U.N Sports Ltd. (ר.א.ן ספורט בע”מ), an Israeli company headquartered in Petah Tikva that identifies itself as the official Brooks importer; it also imports ASSOS and OOFOS and operates an online store, company-operated stores, and a broader retail-partner network.3, 4, 5 Third-party retailers, including Mashbir//365, offer Brooks products through that Israeli import route.6 The available evidence supports an independent distributor/importer relationship, not a Brooks-owned Israeli subsidiary or joint venture.3, 4, 5

No public evidence identified of shared manufacturing, intercompany sourcing, common purchasing, logistics, distribution, or a shared Israeli facility between Brooks and ISCAR/IMC, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD, or Warren Buffett.7, 8, 9, 10

Product Origin, Labeling & Regulatory Compliance

No public evidence identified of an NGO investigation, customs audit, or regulatory citation linking Brooks products to “Produce of Israel” mislabeling, settlement-origin goods, or occupied-territory sourcing.2, 11 The agricultural-exporter mislabeling material identified in the underlying research concerns other companies and does not establish a Brooks connection.2, 11

Brooks’ public responsible-sourcing material addresses leather traceability through Leather Working Group Gold-certified, traceability-rated tanneries, but the reviewed material does not state an occupied-territory-specific labeling or sourcing policy.11 R.U.N.’s current Brooks stockist directory includes Ariel, Beitar Illit, Modi’in Illit, Ma’ale Adumim and Kfar Etzion. These listings qualify the earlier retail-absence finding but do not establish Brooks ownership, a contract for each shop, settlement-specific revenue or the location of the whole reseller network.12 No public evidence identified of an IMC facility or service in the reviewed settlement-location material.8

Investment, Capital & Financial Exposure

No public evidence identified of direct Brooks investment, acquisition, factory, data centre, logistics hub, R&D centre, or real-estate holding in Israel or the occupied territories.13, 14, 7, 8 no public evidence identified of Brooks-specific disclosed holdings in Israeli-domiciled companies, Israeli sovereign bonds, or Israel-focused funds.13, 14, 7, 8

Berkshire’s Israel exposure is distinct from Brooks’ own operations. Berkshire acquired 80% of Iscar Metalworking Companies (IMC) in 2006 in a transaction valuing IMC at approximately $5 billion, then acquired the remaining 20% for approximately $2.05 billion in 2013.15, 16, 17 Berkshire’s current subsidiary exhibit continues to list Iscar Ltd. in Israel, and current Berkshire and ISCAR materials describe IMC/ISCAR as part of the Berkshire group.7, 8, 18, 10

The available Israel Bonds record supports the following de-duplicated historical events and roles:

DateActorDocumented amount or activityEvidenced role
6 November 2016Warren Buffett personallyContemporary reporting states that the event produced $60 million in sales, including Buffett’s $5 million personal investment. The detailed account says attendees met his matching condition.19, 20Host and reported personal purchaser; no underwriting or lead-arranger role is described.19
15 June 2017Warren BuffettIsrael Bonds’ primary event account identifies his New York luncheon and dinner appearances and describes over $210 million in combined investments and intentions from New York and the preceding Omaha event. Its 2018 brochure separately reproduces his June 2017 endorsement.21, 22Host, speaker and public endorser; no personal underwriting role is identified.21, 22
7 June 2018Warren Buffett, then identified as Berkshire chairman and CEOIsrael Bonds reported a second Omaha event and Buffett’s third event with the organisation in 18 months; the event generated $80 million in investments and stated investment intentions.23Host/welcoming speaker and supporter; the record does not establish an $80 million personal or Berkshire purchase.23, 24

The $290 million figure in the June 2018 Israel Bonds release is a cumulative total associated with three events - two in Omaha and one in New York - not an additional June 2018 transaction and must not be counted twice.23 The 2016 and 2017 records identify the preceding Omaha and New York appearances. Their overlapping cumulative totals must not be added together as separate investments; event totals are not Buffett’s personal purchase amounts.23, 19, 22

Historical reporting states that Berkshire Hathaway GUARD held Israel Bonds and that Buffett held several million dollars in such bonds; it does not establish a current position, a precise post-2018 amount, issue date, maturity, or renewal history.19, 20, 24 The 2016 account reports that GUARD declined to reinvest as a sizable bond matured, before Buffett said he would have it reinvest. It does not disclose the reinvested principal, series, maturity, or subsequent status.19 no public evidence identified of a post-2018 verified Israel Bonds holding amount, maturity, renewal/reinvestment history, or most recent holding date for Buffett personally, Berkshire Hathaway, or Berkshire Hathaway GUARD.7, 8, 25, 26

Berkshire’s FY2024 and FY2025 reports do not disclose an issuer-specific Israel Bonds position or maturity schedule; that non-disclosure does not establish divestment.8, 25 Israel Bonds states that authenticated Computershare account records show active bonds, maturity dates, transactions, and interest/principal information, making those non-public account records necessary to verify a current holding.26

No public evidence identified that Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, or Berkshire Hathaway GUARD acted as an Israel Bonds underwriter, bookrunner, broker-dealer, selling agent, formal lead arranger, or placement agent.21, 23, 27 The retrieved records support purchaser, holder, host, speaker, promoter, and public-endorser roles only.19, 21, 23, 24 Israel Bonds materials distinguish the State of Israel as issuer from Development Company for Israel as distributor, and do not identify Buffett or Berkshire as performing either function.21, 27

Berkshire also held Teva Pharmaceutical Industries shares from Q4 2017, increased the position by mid-2018, and fully divested it between Q1 2020 and Q4 2021 according to the cited reporting and 13F-tracking record.28, 29, 30

Operational Presence & Market Activity

Brooks’ global headquarters is in Seattle, Washington, and Brooks’ privacy policy identifies its Seattle address as 3400 Stone Way N., 5th Floor, Seattle, Washington 98103.31, 32, 9 Its EEA contact entity is Brooks Sports B.V. in Amsterdam.32 No Israel-based Brooks corporate office or Israeli Brooks subsidiary was identified in the reviewed corporate records.7, 32, 9, 10

Brooks’ identified Israeli market route remains the independent R.U.N Sports importer/distributor and its retail network, rather than Brooks-operated offices, warehouses, support centres, or company-owned Israeli retail locations.3, 4, 5 no public evidence identified of Brooks’ own Israeli workforce size, Israeli tax registration, or country-level Israeli revenue.13, 14, 7, 8

Berkshire’s FY2025 reporting confirms continuing IMC operations in Israel through the year ended 31 December 2025, including Israeli manufacturing and a regional central warehouse.8, 25 That parent-level IMC continuity does not establish an operational presence by Brooks itself.7, 8, 9, 10

Corporate Structure & Foundational Ties

Brooks was founded in 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, rather than Israel.33 Brooks Sports, Inc. is incorporated in Washington and remained listed as a Berkshire subsidiary at 31 December 2025.7, 32 Brooks’ historical corporate material states that it has been a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary since 2006; the prior “parent since 2012” formulation is therefore superseded.34, 7 Brooks announced Dan Sheridan as CEO on 12 March 2024.31

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.8, 10 Its FY2025 filing states that Berkshire consolidates entities in which it has a controlling financial interest and operates on an unusually decentralized basis with few centralized or integrated functions.7, 10 The same filing assigns Berkshire’s CEO ultimate responsibility for significant capital-allocation decisions, investment activities, and evaluation of operating-business performance; the annual shareholder letter also states that capital-allocation decisions for the non-insurance businesses ultimately reside with the CEO.8 Common Berkshire ownership therefore establishes group membership with central capital-allocation oversight, while the reviewed material does not establish operational integration between Brooks and other Berkshire subsidiaries.7, 8, 10

ISCAR began in 1952 in Nahariya, Israel, and its current materials identify Tefen, Israel as its world headquarters and central manufacturing location.18, 35, 36, 37 Current ISCAR materials identify Berkshire Hathaway as owner of IMC Group, describe ISCAR as IMC’s largest company, and name Jacob Harpaz as IMC Group president and chairman and Ilan Geri as ISCAR CEO.18, 36 Berkshire’s current subsidiary exhibit lists Iscar Ltd. as an Israeli subsidiary.7

The reviewed corporate records identify ISCAR’s Israeli founding, Israeli legal domicile, and Israel-based headquarters/central manufacturing.7, 18, 35, 36, 37 no public evidence identified of ISCAR Preferred Technology Enterprise status or a specific public confirmation of Israeli tax residency in the reviewed corporate and regulatory materials.7, 8, 18, 36 no public evidence identified that ISCAR is currently beneficially controlled by Israeli capital; the evidenced ultimate corporate owner is Berkshire, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Nebraska.8, 18, 10

No public evidence identified of Brooks-specific shared management, manufacturing, sourcing, distribution, direct funding, joint venture, cross-selling, intercompany loans, insurance arrangement, or management overlap below Berkshire’s parent level involving ISCAR, GUARD, or Buffett.7, 8, 9, 10 no public evidence identified of an ISCAR-specific IDF, defence, settlement, government-contract, critical-infrastructure, or state-policy nexus in the reviewed materials.38, 7, 8

External watchlist and human-rights database screening: The full text of the Special Rapporteur’s report A/HRC/59/23, dated 2 July 2025, was searched for “Brooks,” “Berkshire Hathaway,” “Iscar,” and footwear-retail terms, and none appeared in the document.39 The supplied document-scoped research scan likewise found no Brooks mention in the specified OHCHR, Albanese, DBIO, PAX, Who Profits, HRW, Amnesty, Al-Haq, KLP, BDS, or insurance-sector reports; this is not a database-wide absence finding.39, 40, 41, 42 no public evidence identified of a verified Who Profits company-profile page for Brooks or Berkshire in the reviewed material.39

Profit Repatriation & Economic Contribution

No public evidence identified of Brooks-specific disclosed revenue attributable to Israel, and Berkshire’s reviewed FY2023, FY2024, and FY2025 filings do not provide a Brooks/Israel country-level revenue breakout.13, 14, 7, 8 The R.U.N Sports structure supports the inference that Israeli distributor margin is retained by the independent importer while wholesale payments for Brooks goods flow to Brooks outside Israel; this is an inference from the distributor model, not a disclosed Brooks financial statement.3, 4, 5

ISCAR identifies Tefen as its central manufacturing location and states that it devotes almost 10% of resources to new-product development; another current ISCAR statement says Tefen R&D employs hundreds of expert engineers.36, 43 Berkshire reports that IMC is one of the three largest multinational manufacturers of consumable precision carbide metal-cutting tools, generated approximately $4.1 billion in 2025 revenue, and manufactures in Israel alongside multiple other countries.8, 25 Berkshire further states that a large portion of IMC products is manufactured in Israel and that Israel is a regional central-warehouse location.8, 25

These records establish material Israeli manufacturing, warehousing, and R&D-related anchors within IMC, but they do not quantify ISCAR’s Israel-only workforce, revenue, exports, taxes paid, output, R&D spend, or GDP contribution.8, 36, 25, 43 An ISCAR Israel LinkedIn profile reports a 1,001–5,000 employee size band, but it is a non-audited platform profile without a disclosed reporting methodology and is only an indicative reference.44 no public evidence identified of a government or industry designation of Brooks as a key Israeli employer or sector anchor, or of a public designation of IMC/ISCAR as critical national infrastructure.13, 14, 7, 8

Footnotes

  1. https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/brooks-running-visibility-manufacturing-supply-chain-trustrace/689119/ ↩ ↩2

  2. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/supply-chain-transparency/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://brooks.co.il/about/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. https://www.dunsguide.co.il/en/C6b734857837e35175bd9d6e61c545981_shoe_stores/run_sports/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.run_sports_ltd.d93f3a7a87553885a851ff41bbf92a19.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. https://365mashbir.co.il/collections/brooks ↩

  7. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312526083899/brka-ex21.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  8. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2025ar/2025ar.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22

  9. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_ca/meet-brooks/our-company/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_gb/tax-strategy/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  11. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_gb/meet-brooks/running-responsibly/responsible-sourcing/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. https://brooks.co.il/branches/ ↩

  13. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000095017024019719/brka-20231231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  14. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312526083899/brka-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  15. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/jul0506.html ↩

  16. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/may0506.html ↩

  17. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/berkshire-hathaway-buying-rest-of-israels-imc-for-2-05-billion ↩

  18. https://www.iscar.co.il/en-hq/about/overview ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  19. https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/pittsburghers-letter-to-oracle-of-omaha-results-in-a-60-million-sale-of-israel-bonds/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  20. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-billionaire-warren-buffett-invests-5m-in-israel-bonds-helps-raise-60m/ ↩ ↩2

  21. https://www.israelbondsintl.com/pdf/DCI_UK_Israel70_CorporateBrochure_web.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  22. https://israelbondsintl.com/news-and-events-2017/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  23. https://israelbondsintl.com/news-warren-buffett-may25-en/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  24. https://www.timesofisrael.com/warren-buffett-helps-raise-80-million-in-israel-bonds/amp/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  25. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2024ar/2024ar.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  26. https://israelbonds.com/knowledge-base/managing-your-investments/ ↩ ↩2

  27. https://israelbonds.com/investing-in-israel-bonds/prospectuses/ ↩ ↩2

  28. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/why-warren-buffetts-berkshire-loves-loathed-israeli-drug-stock-teva.html ↩

  29. https://www.jns.org/buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-doubles-shares-of-teva/ ↩

  30. https://fintel.io/so/us/teva/berkshire-hathaway ↩

  31. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/03-12-2024/ ↩ ↩2

  32. https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/privacy/privacy-policy/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  33. https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/brooks-sports-inc-history/ ↩

  34. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/brooks-sport/ ↩

  35. https://www.iscar.co.il/Purchasing/EN/iscarOverview.aspx ↩ ↩2

  36. https://www.iscar.com/ru-ru/contact-iscar/headquarters ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  37. https://www.iscar.com/de-at/about/founders ↩ ↩2

  38. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISCAR_Metalworking ↩

  39. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc-59-23-aev.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  40. https://paxforpeace.nl/publications/the-companies-arming-israel-and-their-financiers/ ↩

  41. https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/reports/dont-buy-into-occupation-report-2024/ ↩

  42. https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/business-human-rights-environment/business-and-human-rights/dont-buy-into-occupation-2024-report ↩

  43. https://www.iscar.com/th-th/about/iscar-italy ↩ ↩2

  44. https://www.linkedin.com/company/iscar-israel ↩