Despite touting corporate codes of ethics and human rights commitments, some of the world’s biggest fashion brands continue to maintain financial ties with an Israeli apparel manufacturer that was blacklisted by the United Nations for operating in illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a new report claims.
The grassroots group Anti-sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid said Wednesday that shipping data covering October 2023 through April 2026 reveal a “deeply entrenched” supply chain linking household names such as Adidas, Gap Inc., Lululemon, Nike and Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp., along with celebrity lines like Skims, Savage x Fenty and Millie Bobby Brown’s Florence by Mills, to Delta Galil Industries, an Israel-based supplier of intimates, activewear and denim.
The company sources from 173 factories across 30 countries, including 10 it owns. Through its subsidiary Delta Israel Brands, Delta Galil operates facilities in the settlement neighborhoods of Pisgat Zeev and Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem and in the settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, according to the Who Profits Research Center, an independent think tank the report cited. Delta Galil also owns brands such as Schiesser, P.J. Salvage, 7 For All Mankind, Splendid, Bare Necessities, Organic Basics, Passionata, Delta, Fix and Panta Rei.
“All struggles and oppression are interlinked,” said a spokesperson for Anti-sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid. “Yet we’ve noticed a lot of silence in the fair fashion community about the parallels we’re seeing between exploitation in the global garment sector and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
The issue has taken on a renewed urgency, the spokesperson said, following the International Court of Justice finding in July 2024 that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and amid the ongoing war in Gaza, which a UN independent commission of inquiry called a genocide in 2025.
Supporters of Israel’s military presence and ongoing control in the West Bank maintain that retaining authority over the territory is vital to the country’s national security. They say that withdrawing troops would leave Israel’s urban centers vulnerable to attack.
Campaigners, however, argue that brands’ financial ties to Delta Galil help legitimize war crimes. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has described the company, which did not respond to a request for comment, as a “pillar of Israel’s occupation economy.” The manufacturer reported record sales of $2 billion in 2025, up 4 percent from the year before.
Anti-sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid acknowledges limitations in its data and methodology, largely because, as the spokesperson said, the “supply chain is so opaque.” The data identified which brands source from Delta Galil facilities globally, but in many cases did not disclose the countries where those facilities operate, making it difficult to fully map those relationships.
Still, the records suggest that PVH was a significant buyer from Delta Galil’s facilities in Israel, with 34 recorded customs clearances between October 2023 and April 2026, all involving orders exported to PVH’s subsidiary in Mexico. Lululemon and Nike followed, with nine clearances each over the same period.
The report also identified two dozen brands sourcing from Delta Galil facilities outside Israel, including Adidas, Florence by Mills, Gap, Lululemon, Savage x Fenty and Skims. Despite gaps in sourcing locations, recorded export values and weights indicated that most shipments originated in Vietnam and China, with a smaller proportion from Bangladesh, Cambodia and the United States.
“We’re calling for brands to divest from Israel, which has been proven, according to multiple human rights organizations, to be committing a genocide,” the Anti-sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid spokesperson said. “Under UN guiding principles, if you find evidence that a country or a supply chain is complicit in human rights violations, you are required to exercise heightened due diligence. That due diligence should reveal how Delta Galil is complicit in the occupation.”
Responding to the allegations, Adidas said it has a global licensing relationship with Delta Galil Switzerland to manufacture licensed commercial products in several countries, but that none of the facilities are in Israel or the Palestinian territories. Nike said that Delta Galil is a supplier and that it is “deeply focused on responsible manufacturing,” ensuring that everyone who makes Nike products is “treated fairly and with respect.” The other brands linked to Delta Galil in the report did not respond to requests for comment.
On Thursday, the Fair Labor Association awarded Delta Galil its Fair Labor Accreditation for compliance with international labor standards designed to protect workers in its global supply chains. The FLA board’s decision followed a “rigorous, multi-year review” of Delta Galil’s business systems, according to a press release.
“At Delta Galil, we believe that how we do business matters just as much as what we achieve,” Delta Galil CEO Isaac Dabah said in a statement. “For 50 years, we have been committed to our associates and to the communities in which we operate, believing that responsible business starts with respect for people and a commitment to making a positive difference.”
Asked for comment, the FLA explained the scope of its accreditation.
“FLA’s engagement with member companies—including Delta Galil—focuses on how companies identify, prevent, and address labor risks in their supply chains. Our accreditation framework for manufacturing focuses on these specific labor and human rights responsibilities in Tier One (finished goods) facilities,” an FLA spokesperson said. “Risks in other aspects of a company’s business fall outside the scope of our engagement, and we are confident such risks can be addressed by other organizations.”
Anti-sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid said it understands the divisive nature of the issue but that it wants to open a dialogue.
“I think brands haven’t had this sort of interrogation in terms of their complicity in the occupation before to this level and that’s why their responses have been quite poor or quite broad in terms of their responsibility,” the spokesperson said.
At the same time, the group said, brands’ responsibilities are clear.
“They need to fall back onto their duty as a business under the UN Guiding Principles and under international law,” the spokesperson said. “An illegal occupation is a war crime, and they need to be able to make that distinction without question. It’s in the law—they have to follow international human rights law if they care about human rights. What they are stating in their policies is simply not reflected in the reality of their business supply chains regarding Palestine.”