Military Audit: Clarks

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified of any contract, tender, framework agreement, or memorandum of understanding between Clarks and Israel’s Ministry of Defence, the IDF, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Border Police, or any other Israeli state security body. No public evidence identified of Clarks appearing in SIBAT (Israel’s Defence Export & Defence Cooperation Directorate) listings or international defence exhibition catalogues. No public evidence identified of press releases or trade-press reporting describing a defence-cooperation relationship between Clarks and Israeli defence entities. UK Ministry of Defence combat-footwear procurement is instead handled via Leidos Supply Ltd under a long-term MOD contract, with no evidence linking Clarks to this or any other state combat-footwear supply chain ¹²³. Clarks does operate a consumer “military discount” scheme for UK/US armed-forces personnel, but this is a retail discount programme rather than a defence procurement relationship, and it is not Israel-specific.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

No public evidence identified that Clarks manufactures or markets ruggedised, tactical, mil-spec, or defence-grade product variants. Clarks’ product range, as evidenced by its Israeli market presence via the Next Israel retail platform and its November 2024 Tel Aviv pop-up, consists of civilian lifestyle and comfort footwear such as the Wallabees and Originals lines ⁴⁵⁶. No public evidence identified of export licence applications, end-user certificates, or export control reviews tied to Clarks sales to Israeli defence or security end-users.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

This domain is not applicable to Clarks’ commercial category, as the company is a footwear retailer and manufacturer rather than a producer of machinery, construction equipment, or vehicles. No public evidence identified of Clarks equipment, vehicles, or machinery being used in settlement, barrier, or military-installation construction or demolition activity. No public evidence identified of Clarks holding construction or engineering contracts for checkpoints, detention facilities, military bases, the separation barrier, or settlement infrastructure.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No public evidence identified of Clarks supplying components, sub-systems, raw materials, or manufacturing services to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, or IMI Systems/Elbit Land. This is corroborated by a full-text check of PAX’s June 2024 report “The Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers,” which profiles the supply chains of these primes extensively without any reference to Clarks ⁷. No public evidence identified of joint development, co-production, technology transfer, or licensed manufacturing agreements between Clarks and any Israeli defence firm.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Clarks providing service contracts - catering, transport, fuel, waste management, facilities, or telecoms - to IDF bases, training facilities, detention centres, or security installations in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Negev, or elsewhere. No public evidence identified of Clarks-specific shipping, freight, or port-handling contracts servicing Israeli defence logistics or arms shipments, as distinct from routine commercial retail shipping arrangements to Israeli civilian retail partners such as Next Israel ⁶.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified of any Clarks role - as prime contractor, sub-contractor, or component supplier - in small arms, artillery, armoured vehicles, drones, naval vessels, munitions, propellants, or strategic platforms such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, fighter aircraft, tanks, or warships for Israeli forces. This domain sits fundamentally outside Clarks’ commercial category as a consumer footwear retailer and manufacturer.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of export licence grants, denials, suspensions, or revocations for Clarks products to Israeli military or security end-users in any jurisdiction. No public evidence identified of arms-embargo or sanctions-compliance investigations or enforcement actions involving Clarks in connection with Israel. No public evidence identified of court proceedings, judicial reviews, or legal challenges concerning a Clarks–Israel defence supply relationship; this is distinct from unrelated UK arms-export litigation such as the Al-Haq judicial review, which does not name Clarks ⁷.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

Clarks is not named among the 158 entities in the OHCHR Database of Business Enterprises maintained pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 31/36 and 53/25, based on the September 2025 update ⁸⁹. Clarks is not among the 48 corporations identified in UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s July 2025 report “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide” (A/HRC/59/23), which names entities including Elbit Systems, IAI, Palantir, NSO Group, IBM Israel, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Caterpillar, Hyundai, Volvo, Heidelberg Materials/Hanson Israel, Mekorot, Glencore, Chevron, BP, Netafim, Maersk, Airbnb, Booking.com, BNP Paribas, Barclays, BlackRock, Vanguard, Allianz, AXA, MIT, and TU Munich ¹⁰¹¹. Clarks does not appear in the full text of PAX’s June 2024 report “The Companies Arming Israel and Their Financiers” ⁷. Clarks is not listed on Ethical Consumer’s Palestine boycott list ¹².

Clarks does appear on two lower-tier, non-authoritative crowd-sourced boycott-listing sites. Brands2Boycott.org lists Clarks under a “Level 3” tier with the sole stated rationale that it is “associated with Marks & Spencer, which operates in Israel” ¹³; this is an unverified, indirect association claim, as no ownership or corporate linkage between Clarks and Marks & Spencer was identified in any source and the two are separate, unrelated retail companies, and the claim does not describe any defence-sector nexus. Cobbled Goods’ “Billionaire Boycott List (For Footwear)” reportedly references Clarks in connection with BlackRock as a shareholder said to invest in Israeli government bonds and weapons manufacturers, but this claim could not be independently verified against primary text because direct access to the page was blocked ¹⁴. No SEC filing, 13F, or corporate disclosure was located confirming BlackRock as a Clarks shareholder; Clarks has instead been a private company majority-owned by Hong Kong-based LionRock Capital via Viva Goods since March 2021, with the Clark family retaining a minority stake ^15161718, while BlackRock’s disclosed 9.7% shareholding is in Marks & Spencer, an unrelated public company ¹⁹, suggesting a probable conflation between “Clarks” and “M&S” in secondary boycott-list sourcing. Anti-Sweatshop Against Apartheid’s brand-research page does not mention Clarks at all ²⁰.

No public evidence identified of institutional divestment decisions by pension funds or sovereign wealth funds citing Clarks’ defence-sector activity. No public evidence identified of employee open letters, walkouts, or internal protest actions at Clarks regarding Israel/Gaza. No public evidence identified of Clarks corporate statements, policy changes, contract terminations, or end-use monitoring commitments issued in response to civil-society pressure on this topic.

As contextual, non-defence-related corporate footprint information, Clarks held its first-ever Israel market activation - a pop-up store event at Teder in Tel Aviv, running 13–16 November 2024 - marketed as a heritage and lifestyle retail launch, with Clarks products also distributed in Israel through the retailer Next Israel ⁴⁵⁶. No evidence was found of any subsequent permanent retail presence, franchise agreement, or ongoing operations beyond this event. This activity is a civilian retail and consumer-goods matter and shows no military, security-force, or settlement nexus.