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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
