diff --git a/src/west/app/project.py b/src/west/app/project.py
index 54c35493..c6c59794 100644
--- a/src/west/app/project.py
+++ b/src/west/app/project.py
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ def do_add_parser(self, parser_adder):
             parser_adder,
             usage='''
 
-  %(prog)s [-m URL] [--mr REVISION] [--mf FILE] [directory]
+  %(prog)s [-m URL] [--mr REVISION] [--mf FILE] [-o=GIT_CLONE_OPTION] [directory]
   %(prog)s -l [--mf FILE] directory
 ''')
 
@@ -186,6 +186,10 @@ def do_add_parser(self, parser_adder):
         parser.add_argument('-m', '--manifest-url',
                             help='''manifest repository URL to clone;
                             cannot be combined with -l''')
+        parser.add_argument('-o', '--clone-opt', action='append', default=[],
+                            help='''additional option to pass to 'git clone'
+                            (e.g. '-o=--depth=1'); may be given more than once;
+                            cannot be combined with -l''')
         parser.add_argument('--mr', '--manifest-rev', dest='manifest_rev',
                             help='''manifest repository branch or tag name
                             to check out first; cannot be combined with -l''')
@@ -225,8 +229,8 @@ def do_run(self, args, _):
 
             self.die_already(self.topdir, msg)
 
-        if args.local and (args.manifest_url or args.manifest_rev):
-            self.die('-l cannot be combined with -m or --mr')
+        if args.local and (args.manifest_url or args.manifest_rev or args.clone_opt):
+            self.die('-l cannot be combined with -m, -o or --mr')
 
         self.die_if_no_git()
 
@@ -302,7 +306,7 @@ def bootstrap(self, args) -> Path:
                 f'Cloning manifest repository from {manifest_url}' +
                 (f', rev. {args.manifest_rev}' if args.manifest_rev else ''))
 
-            self.check_call(['git', 'clone'] + branch_opt +
+            self.check_call(['git', 'clone'] + branch_opt + args.clone_opt +
                             [manifest_url, os.fspath(tempdir)])
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             shutil.rmtree(tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index c982c2dd..eb7e168e 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -1647,6 +1647,25 @@ def test_init_local_with_empty_path(repos_tmpdir):
     assert (repos_tmpdir / 'workspace' / 'subdir' / 'Kconfiglib').check(dir=1)
 
 
+def test_init_local_with_clone_option_failure(repos_tmpdir):
+    # Test that 'west init -l -o' errors out
+
+    west_tmpdir = repos_tmpdir / 'workspace'
+
+    with pytest.raises(subprocess.CalledProcessError):
+        cmd(['init', '-l', '-o=--depth=1', west_tmpdir])
+
+
+def test_init_with_clone_option_depth_one(repos_tmpdir):
+    # Test that 'west init -o=--depth=1' only clones depth 1
+
+    west_tmpdir = repos_tmpdir / 'workspace'
+
+    cmd(['init', '-o=--depth=1', west_tmpdir])
+    assert 1 == int(subprocess.check_output([GIT, 'rev-list', '--count', '--max-count=5', 'HEAD'],
+                                            cwd=west_tmpdir / 'zephyr').decode().strip())
+
+
 def test_update_with_groups_enabled(west_init_tmpdir):
     # Test "west update" with increasing numbers of groups enabled.