Our eco-design approach

Our ecodesign approach and our criteria

How do you go about eco-designing? At what stage is a product considered to be eco-designed?
Discover our different approaches to eco-design.

Our eco-design approach

Recycled polyester: 
fabric in a bottle

By recycling plastic bottles or fabric to produce our polyester, we reduce the use resources coming fossil fuels, all while preserving the fabric's features that make it user friendly to your activity.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 70% of its weight is made from recycled polyester.

Our eco-design approach

How does it work?

The plastic bottles are cleaned and shredded into flakes. These are then poured and melted, turning into a sort of paste. The paste is transformed into a form of filament thanks to an extrusion screw.
This filament is spun around a reel: creating the recycled polyester yarn!

Our eco-design approach

Solution-dyed :
stain free dyeing

Conventionally dyeing fabric requires immersing it in large amounts of water. To avoid using abundant amounts of water, we use the solution-dyed technique by directly integrating the colour pigments when spinning the yarn.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 50% of its weight is made from fabric dyed thanks to the Solution-Dyed technique.

Our eco-design approach

How does it work?

To produce yarn required for manufacturing fabric, we place polyester, in paste form, into a barrel. Equipped with a very narrow hole at its extremity, an endless screw (called an extrusion screw) forces the material to come out of the barrel in a thin filament. At the same time as the polyester paste, we insert colour pigments in powder form. So when extruding the yarn, it comes out coloured and ready to use for designing our products.

Our eco-design approach

Biton:
the smart fabric

Dyeing fabric requires using large amounts of water, and also producing waste water coming from the dyeing vats. To reduce the impact of using water and the discharge of waste water, we use one yarn out of two, subsequently reducing our consumption and impact on the water.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 50% of its weight is made from Biton fabrics.

Our eco-design approach

How does it work?

With Biton fabric, one yarn out of two is dyed,with the dyed yarns woven horizontally and the undyed yarns vertically. Thanks to this process, we get a very trendy flecked coloured fabric and a reduced environmental impact.
What is more, the threads that are dyed also use a less impactful process (coloured by way of Solution Dyeing).

Our eco-design approach

Recycled cotton:
the new with the old

Cotton farming is a process that has two principal impacts. First: the use of large amounts of water to grow it. Second: to protect it from harmful insects, pesticides are used, which are hazardous for humans and biodiversity.
By recycling cotton, we avoid having to produce virgin cotton, reducing the environmental impact due to manufacturing the fabric.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 28% of its main fabric is made from recycled cotton.

Our eco-design approach

How does it work?

Cotton is recycled by retrieving clothing or fabric made from 100% cotton. We then extract the fibres forming a new yarn.
During the extraction, the recycled fibres are stripped, which weakens them. It is, therefore, necessary to blend them with virgin cotton fibres to ensure they are strong enough.

Our eco-design approach

Organically grown cotton:
soft and clean

To protect the cotton from harmful insects, farmers often resort to using pesticides. These are hazardous for health, pollute the soils, and have an impact on biodiversity. Organic cotton farming helps to grow chemical-free cotton in a more environmentally friendly way.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 90% of its main fabric is made from organically grown cotton.

Our eco-design approach

How does it work?

The seeds used in organic farming are free of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). What is more, to avoid using pesticides when growing crops, farmers use natural fertiliser on their land and natural pest control to repel harmful insects, which all helps to compensate for the lack of chemical products.

Our eco-design approach

Recycled plastic
we've come full circle

Plastic material is made from petrochemical resources. To reduce the use of these resources, we use, where possible, recycled plastic.

At DECATHLON, we claim a product is ecodesign when more than 40% of its weight is made from recycled plastic.

Our eco-design approach

Want to know more ?

Polyester, polyamide, polyester, cotton... recycled cotton, cellulose fibre, Lyocell or even solution dyed, the world of Ecodesign is not always a piece of cake. We have put this glossary together to help you navigate your way through Ecodesign.

How does it work?

Once their first life comes to an end, it's possible to recycle some plastic objects. It involves shredding them into small pieces, such as flakes, and then melting them. Once this plastic is in paste form, it is possible to inject it in a mould in the shape of your choice, subsequently giving it a second life!

Our eco-design approach

Aiming higher

By 31/12/2021, we had 10,4 % of turnover generated by Ecodesign products.

With DECATHLON teams understanding the challenges of climate change and resource depletion, they aim to achieve 100% product development with an eco-design approach by 2026.

Our eco-design approach

Our other commitments

OUR COMMITMENTS TO MEET THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

OUR COMMITMENTS TO MEET THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

We are taking into account the reality of climate change. We work every day at reducing our impact on the environment in all our companies activities. We invite you, on this page, to understand the challenge that climate change represents, and why we are taking action to limit it.
DISTRIBUTION: OUR COMMITMENTS AROUND THE WORLD

Distribution : our commitments around the world

DECATHLON is committed to reducing its environmental impact on a worldwide scale. To get there, our teams have identified two key areas: renewable energy and transport. Here are our measures and goals for the coming years
OUR MANUFACTURING RESPONSIBILITIES

OUR MANUFACTURING RESPONSIBILITIES

At DECATHLON, we design our products. To this end, we are also at the origin of their production. In other words, we put in place a large-scale manufacturing system to make these products available all over the world and in larger volumes. As a result of this activity, we have a responsibility: respecting the rights of the people manufacturing our products, and limiting our activity's environmental impact. These measures are put in place both globally and locally among people living in the area surrounding our production factories.
Picture of a man and his kid

A long-lasting relationship

Getting your feedback, talking to each other, sharing a passion we have in common, supporting, motivating and helping… Experiencing DECATHLON doesn't stop at buying a product. We want to develop a long-lasting relationship with you, the sports users.