INDEX / DIRECTORY / CLARKS

Clarks

Fashion & Apparel 98 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-09-08 METHOD V6.5
BDS-1000 Score 326 /1000 D Tier D - Moderate
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 3.50 Economic ↗ 3.50 Political ↗ 2.75
OWNERSHIP TREE 1 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Economic: Clarks products reach Israel through third-party channels, including Original’s - self-described as Clarks’ official Israeli importer - and Next Israel; a November 2024 Tel Aviv pop-up documented an active consumer-market launch.1, 2, 3
  • Digital: Clarks consolidated EMEA cybersecurity onto Check Point’s Infinity architecture, covering endpoint, network and cloud security; the documented engagement is cybersecurity infrastructure, not a surveillance or biometric system.4, 5
  • Political: The continuing official-importer relationship governs the assessment as sustained private-market normalization. The separate November 2024 Tel Aviv pop-up was a short heritage/lifestyle event; neither establishes a state partnership or military donation.1, 3
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of Israeli military or security procurement, settlement-based retail operations, Israeli production or investment facilities, or inclusion in the OHCHR settlement-business database.6, 7

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameC. & J. Clark International Limited (Clarks)
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom; registered as C. & J. Clark International Limited (Companies House no. 00141015).8
HeadquartersStreet, Somerset, United Kingdom.8
SectorConsumer footwear manufacturing and retail.
OwnershipPrivate company: reported 51% Viva Goods Company Limited and 49% Clark family. The Hong Kong-listed, Li Ning-associated Viva China Holdings was renamed Viva Goods in May 2023.9, 10
Key Executives / GovernanceVictor Herrero is identified as Clarks’ acting CEO and Viva Goods co-CEO from June 2025; Li Ning is the current majority-owner-side principal. Daniel Kar Keung Tseung was the LionRock Capital principal during its 2021–2023 controlling-shareholder period.9, 11
Israeli-Nexus SummaryCivilian consumer-goods market presence through independent Israeli import and retail channels, plus a documented Check Point cybersecurity-vendor relationship; no public evidence identified of military, settlement, or Israeli state-contract nexus.

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Clarks is a UK footwear manufacturer and retailer whose documented Israel nexus is primarily commercial consumer distribution. Its products are sold through Original’s, an Israeli multi-brand footwear chain that identifies itself as Clarks’ official Israeli importer, and through the separate Next Israel retail/e-commerce channel.1, 2 A Clarks Originals pop-up at Teder in Tel Aviv, held from 13 to 16 November 2024, was publicly promoted as a heritage and lifestyle launch. The available record supports an active or recent Israeli consumer-market presence, but does not establish that Clarks owns the importer, owns all retail points selling its products, or operates an Israeli subsidiary.3, 1

The principal technology-related finding is Clarks’ documented use of Check Point Software Technologies’ Infinity cybersecurity architecture. Announced in 2022, the deployment covered the company’s EMEA network, endpoints, remote access and cloud environment, including Harmony, Quantum and CloudGuard products.4, 5 Check Point is an Israeli-founded cybersecurity company and has been described in background reporting as having former Israeli military-linked personnel among its founders; that general corporate background does not establish that the Clarks deployment serves Israeli military, intelligence, police, settlement, or surveillance activity.13 The audit found no public evidence that Clarks uses Israeli-origin facial recognition, biometric identification, behavioural analytics, predictive policing, or workforce-surveillance technology.

The reviewed record does not support a military nexus. No public evidence identified links Clarks to contracts, tenders, procurement arrangements, export licences, tactical-product supply, logistics, services, technology transfer, or component supply for the IDF, Israeli Ministry of Defence, Israel Prison Service, Border Police, intelligence agencies, or Israeli defence primes. Clarks’ products documented in Israel are civilian lifestyle and comfort footwear. The reviewed Israeli retail listings and launch materials do not establish defence procurement.2, 3

The record also does not establish settlement operations. No public evidence identified of a Clarks-branded, Original’s-branded, franchise, or authorized reseller location in West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights settlements. Store-list and mall checks found locations within pre-1967 Israel or West Jerusalem, including Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion, but did not identify a settlement tenancy; the review was targeted rather than an exhaustive review of every settlement retail site.14, 15 Clarks was not identified in the September 2025 OHCHR database update of businesses involved in Israeli-settlement-related activities, nor in the reviewed material from the UN Special Rapporteur’s July 2025 report.7, 16

The political score is governed by the continuing public market association through Original’s official-importer channel. Its sustained private-commercial magnitude and partner proximity are distinct from the short directly staged November 2024 event. No public evidence identified a corporate statement on Israel/Palestine, Gaza, or the post-October 2023 war.1, 3, 17 The same review found no public evidence of corporate lobbying, political donations, IDF- or settlement-directed contributions, government partnerships, or a formal state-backed “Brand Israel” campaign. The evidence supports a civilian Israeli market relationship and an Israeli cybersecurity-vendor relationship, alongside substantial negative findings. Under the fixed, human-vetted V6.5 assessment, Clarks receives a BRS of 326, placing it in Tier D (Moderate Complicity).

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
1825Clarks was founded in Street, Somerset, England.12
March 2021LionRock Capital completed its investment and assumed the controlling-shareholder position in Clarks.18
7 September 2022Clarks announced consolidation of its cybersecurity estate onto Check Point Infinity, using Harmony, Quantum and CloudGuard across its EMEA environment.4
January / 2 February 2023Viva dates acquisition completion to January; Goodwin announced the completed sale on 2 February. The resulting ownership was reported as 51% Viva-side and 49% Clark family.9, 10
May 2023Viva China Holdings was renamed Viva Goods Company Limited.10
13–16 November 2024Clarks Originals held a Tel Aviv pop-up/launch event at Teder, promoted as a consumer heritage and lifestyle activation.3
June 2025Viva Goods’ leadership information identifies Victor Herrero as Clarks’ acting CEO and Viva Goods co-CEO.11
September 2025OHCHR updated its settlement-business database; Clarks was not identified in the reviewed update materials.7

Corporate Overview

Clarks operates as C. & J. Clark International Limited, a privately held UK footwear company based in Street, Somerset.8 Its current ownership is reported as 51% Viva Goods Company Limited and 49% the Clark family. Viva Goods is the renamed Viva China Holdings, associated with Li Ning; LionRock Capital’s former controlling interest ended with the acquisition completed in January 2023 and announced by Goodwin in February. The corporate rename followed in May.9, 10

The audits identified no Clarks-owned Israeli manufacturing facility, data centre, office, warehouse, research site, dedicated importer-of-record subsidiary, or publicly disclosed Israeli investment vehicle. Clarks’ own manufacturing disclosure lists production and sourcing across countries including China, Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Albania, Portugal and Romania; Israel does not appear in that country breakdown.19

The documented Israeli route to market is third-party retail and import. Original’s describes itself as Clarks’ official Israeli importer while also representing other international footwear brands, supporting a multi-brand import/distribution model rather than a Clarks-only entity.1 Next Israel separately lists Clarks products online; the contractual relationship between Next and Clarks was not confirmed in the reviewed material.2 The record also identifies a November 2024 Tel Aviv launch event and selected retail references within Israel’s recognized 1967 boundaries.3, 14

Clarks’ confirmed Middle East franchise relationship outside Israel is with Dubai-based Apparel Group for expansion in Saudi Arabia. No public evidence identified connects Apparel Group to Clarks distribution in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory.20

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of any Clarks contract, tender, framework agreement, memorandum of understanding, export licence, procurement relationship, or supply-chain arrangement with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Border Police, intelligence agencies, or Israeli defence contractors.

No public evidence identified that Clarks manufactures tactical, ruggedised, mil-spec, defence-grade, or dual-use footwear for Israeli end-users. The documented Israeli-facing products and launch materials concern civilian Clarks Originals and lifestyle footwear. No public evidence identified of Clarks equipment, vehicles, services, freight arrangements, construction activity, base services, weapons-system inputs, or logistics supporting Israeli military or settlement infrastructure.3, 6

The audit also found no public evidence that Clarks supplies Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, IMI Systems/Elbit Land, or other Israeli defence primes. Clarks does not appear in the reviewed PAX report on companies arming Israel and their financiers.6

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that Clarks is a consumer-footwear company and that the available record identifies no Israeli security-sector business at all. The reviewed retail material and military-supply report do not establish an Israeli military procurement channel for Clarks.2, 3, 6

Negative findings are not proof that every conceivable commercial transaction is impossible. They mean that no public evidence was identified in the reviewed procurement, corporate, trade-press, civil-society, regulatory and defence-sector sources. The record supports no military allegation.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Clarks announced in September 2022 that it had consolidated its EMEA cybersecurity estate onto Check Point’s Infinity architecture. The documented deployment includes Harmony for endpoint and remote access, Quantum security gateways, and CloudGuard for cloud security, alongside security management, event and compliance functions.4, 5 The customer story reports a reduction in security policy/rule counts by more than half and scaled secure VPN access during pandemic-era operational demands.5

Check Point’s Clarks customer material presents the relationship as covering enterprise network, endpoint and cloud cybersecurity. Background reporting describes Check Point as Israeli-founded and linked its founders generally to former Israeli military personnel; this is contextual information about the vendor, not evidence that Clarks’ particular use is military-facing.13

No public evidence identified of Clarks using Israeli-origin facial recognition, biometrics, gait analysis, behavioural analytics, predictive-policing, intelligence, call-centre surveillance, or retail-surveillance systems. No public evidence identified links Clarks to Project Nimbus, Israeli sovereign-cloud programmes, Israeli data-centre operations, or Israeli state technology contracts.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that the identified Check Point relationship is ordinary defensive enterprise cybersecurity for Clarks’ own commercial operations. The disclosed products concern network, endpoint and cloud protection, not tools for identifying, monitoring, profiling or policing people.4, 5 Clarks is not a technology provider and the audit found no evidence it develops or supplies dual-use, offensive-cyber, AI, intelligence, military, or surveillance products.

The customer-story page remained available in the audit’s most recent indexing, but no independent 2023–2026 public source was identified confirming whether the arrangement was renewed, expanded or terminated after the original deployment. A search-engine snippet suggesting a Palo Alto Networks relationship was not corroborated by primary material and remains unverified; it is not treated as a finding.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

Clarks has a documented civilian commercial route to the Israeli market. Original’s calls itself the official importer of Clarks in Israel and operates as a multi-brand footwear retailer. Next Israel separately sells Clarks-branded products online.1, 2 These channels establish commercial availability and import/distribution activity, but the audit did not locate public evidence of the underlying wholesale, royalty, commission, profit-repatriation or contractual terms.

A formal market-entry push is also supported by the Tel Aviv Teder pop-up held 13–16 November 2024. Additional mall-directory material identified standalone Clarks-branded storefront references in Tel Aviv and Rishon LeZion, both within Israel’s internationally recognized 1967 boundaries.3, 14

No public evidence identified of Clarks-owned Israeli factories, warehouses, offices, research facilities, data centres, real estate, direct investments, Israel-specific subsidiaries, or Israeli agricultural sourcing. Israel is absent from Clarks’ disclosed manufacturing-country breakdown.19 No public evidence identified of Clarks, Viva Goods, Viva China, Li Ning, or the Clark family holding disclosed investments in Israeli-domiciled companies, Israeli sovereign bonds, or Israel-focused funds.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that the documented nexus is third-party civilian retail distribution, not an owned Israeli operating footprint. Original’s is a multi-brand importer and retailer, and Next Israel is a separate retail channel; neither source establishes a Clarks-owned Israeli company or determines the commercial value accruing to Clarks.1, 2 No public evidence identified of revenue attributable to Israel, local workforce size, taxes, registration status, or the detailed economics of the importer relationship.

The audits found no public evidence of settlement retail activity. Original’s store-list checks did not identify locations in Ariel, Ma’ale Adumim, Modi’in Illit, Pisgat Ze’ev or other reviewed settlement locations, while a targeted Ariel mall check did not identify a Clarks or Original’s tenant.15, 22 These checks were not an exhaustive census of every retail site in occupied territory and should not be represented as proof that no future or unlisted reseller could exist.

A circulated assertion that BlackRock indirectly owns Clarks through HPS Investment Partners was not corroborated by Companies House records, Clarks disclosures or trade reporting. It is treated as unverified and likely erroneous, not as a basis for attribution.23

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

The governing political act is Clarks’ continuing authorized market association through Original’s, which identifies itself as the official Israeli importer. Under the supplied rubric, this is sustained private-market Business-as-Usual normalization at I=3.5, M=5.5 and P=8.0. The independent importer performs the retail activity; Clarks is the direct commercial partner, not the direct retail operator.1

The separately assessed historical act is Clarks’ public-facing framing of its November 2024 Tel Aviv launch. Promotional material described the arrival of the “iconic English shoe brand” and framed the event around Clarks heritage and cultural references, with performances and receptions at Teder.3 The available record therefore supports affirmative consumer-market promotion in Israel rather than a purely internal or administrative distribution arrangement. Its one-off M=2.5 and direct-event P=9.0 belong to that separate four-day event and are not combined with the continuing importer frame.

No public evidence identified of a Clarks corporate statement on Israel/Palestine, Gaza, or the post-October 2023 war. The audit also found no public evidence of Clarks statements on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine or the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. The reviewed record therefore does not establish a selective “vocal elsewhere, silent on Palestine” pattern; it establishes uniform absence of located statements across those reference issues.17

No public evidence identified of Israel/Palestine-related lobbying, PAC donations, IDF or Friends of the IDF support, Jewish National Fund support, settlement-organization funding, government partnerships, state honours, government-official hosting, or participation in a state-backed Brand Israel campaign. The Teder event was identified as a private-venue partnership, not a government-sponsored programme.3

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that a commercial brand launch is not, by itself, evidence of endorsement of Israeli government policy, the occupation, settlements or military conduct. The materials reviewed characterize the event as a private consumer and cultural activation, and no public evidence identified a state partner, policy statement, political contribution or geopolitical advocacy activity.3, 17

The November 2024 event occurred before the ICC arrest-warrant decision announced on 21 November 2024. It should not be characterized as a reaction to, or continuation after, those warrants.24 Likewise, absence of located corporate statements is an evidence gap, not proof of motive or political intent.

Crowd-sourced boycott listings and social-media discussions are insufficient to establish a political nexus. The audit identified a recurrent risk of conflating footwear company Clarks with the separate corporation Kimberly-Clark. No primary NGO investigation reviewed - such as Who Profits, AFSC or Al-Haq material - was located naming Clarks as a specific BDS target.25

Named Entities and Evidence Map

BDS-1000 Score

Method: V6.5.

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital3.507.009.003.50
Economic3.507.008.003.50
Political3.505.508.002.75

V_MAX is driven jointly by the documented Israeli consumer-market channel and the documented use of Israeli-founded Check Point cybersecurity infrastructure. The Economic score reflects continuing third-party import and retail availability; the Digital score reflects a direct enterprise vendor deployment; the Political score reflects continuing private-market importer association, with no evidence of state advocacy. Military remains zero because the audit identified no public evidence of a military or security nexus.

The assessment is scale-free and evidence-only: it records activity type, scale and directness rather than imputing responsibility from ownership, nationality, consumer discussion, or unrelated entities. These are fixed, human-vetted V6.5 scores.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://originals.co.il/pages/clarks ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  2. https://www.next.co.il/en/brands/clarks ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. https://www.secrettelaviv.com/tickets/clarks-originals-teder ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  4. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/09/07/2511194/0/en/Clarks-Consolidates-End-to-End-Cybersecurity-Estate-with-Check-Point-Software-Technologies.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/clarks/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. https://paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/The-Companies-Arming-Israel-and-Their-Financiers-June-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  7. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00141015 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. https://www.goodwinlaw.com/en/news-and-events/news/2023/02/02_02-lionrock-capital-closes-sale-of-clarks-investment-to-viva-china ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  10. https://www.vivagoods.hk/en/about-us/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. https://www.vivagoods.hk/en/about-us/director-information-leadership-team/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarks_(shoe_retailer) ↩ ↩2

  13. https://corporatewatch.org/check-point-software-ex-israeli-military-spooks-profiting-from-the-cyber-security-industry/ ↩ ↩2

  14. https://www.kenyonim.com/storeresults.asp?cboNet=3244 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. https://originals.co.il/pages/הסניפים-שלנו ↩ ↩2

  16. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur ↩

  17. https://www.instagram.com/p/DB05FknNjil/?hl=en ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. https://corporate.clarks.com/media/articles/Clarks_LionRockCapital_Partnership_Final.pdf ↩

  19. https://corporate.clarks.com/made-to-last/where-we-make-our-shoes.html ↩ ↩2

  20. https://www.apparelgroup.com/en/news/apparel-group-and-clarks-join-forces-to-expand-retail-reach-in-ksa/ ↩

  21. https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/clarks-systems-hardware-sap-hana ↩

  22. https://www.kenyonim.com/storeresults.asp?cboMall=207 ↩

  23. https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/newsroom/press-releases/article/corporate-one/press-releases/blackrock-acquires-hps-investment-partners ↩ ↩2

  24. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges ↩

  25. https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/business-human-rights ↩ ↩2