diff --git a/drupy/objects.py b/drupy/objects.py
index a92da64..0bf85a0 100644
--- a/drupy/objects.py
+++ b/drupy/objects.py
@@ -373,18 +373,27 @@ class GitRepoApplier(Applier):
     def __init__(self, runner, config):
         Applier.__init__(self, runner, config)
         self.url = config['url']
+        self.shallow = config.get('shallow', True)
 
     def applyTo(self, target):
         call = ['git', 'clone', self.url]
-        if 'branch' in self.config:
-            call += ['-b', self.config['branch']]
+
+        if self.shallow:
+            b = self.config.get('revision') or self.config.get('branch')
+            call += ['--branch', b, '--depth', '1']
+        else:
+            if 'branch' in self.config:
+                call += ['-b', self.config['branch']]
+
         call.append(target)
         self.runner.command(call)
-        if 'revision' in self.config:
-            wd = os.getcwd()
-            os.chdir(target)
-            self.runner.command(['git', 'checkout', self.config['revision']])
-            os.chdir(wd)
+
+        if not self.shallow:
+            if 'revision' in self.config:
+                wd = os.getcwd()
+                os.chdir(target)
+                self.runner.command(['git', 'checkout', self.config['revision']])
+                os.chdir(wd)
 
     def isValid(self):
         return self.type == 'git' or 'branch' in self.config \