The concept of repairability

Or how to encourage a longer life for our products.

Repairability: a win-win system

There are literally nothing but advantages to (re)starting to repair the objects that populate our daily lives.

Repairing obviously saves money. Instead of buying a new product, the consumer reinvests a smaller sum to obtain, in the end, an identical service (the use of the product). Simple and effective!

Repairing a product is also better for the environment: one repaired item means one less item to produce. And less waste to process. That's just as much electricity, water, fuel and raw materials saved... So you can significantly reduce your ecological footprint.

For manufacturers, repairability also has its virtues: as well as reducing their own environmental footprint, it allows them to avoid costs that are avoidable, such as those generated by replacing broken or faulty products. It makes more economic sense to replace the faulty zip on a bag than the whole bag.

As far as the community is concerned, we can add that repair practices help to create and/or strengthen social ties. Fablabs, repair cafés, in-store repair workshops... there are a growing number of dedicated venues in France, offering opportunities to meet up, share know-how and collaborative solutions.

Finally, for the economy, repairability means the creation of local industries and jobs that can't be relocated. After all, it's easier to repair your bike or the zip on your handbag just around the corner than on the other side of the world...

With repairability, on the other hand, we are following a virtuous and sober logic, that of the circular economy. Or how to get out of the linear pattern of produce > consume > throw away to come back to dynamics that are economical in resources and raw materials: produce > use > repair (or recycle) > reuse.

"The attention paid to reparability is not new at DECATHLON," says Julie Soulignac, sustainable development project manager for repairability. Some pioneering sports have been working on these issues for a long time, such as the Itiwit brand for paddle sports, stand-up paddle and kayak. Similarly, the development of eco-design has boosted this new requirement. Repairability is indeed one of the criteria of ecodesign. The rule is that a product is considered repairable if at least 80% of the breakages and failures identified on it can be repaired.

It remains to generalize the approach. To do this, DECATHLON was inspired by the index developed by ADEME (the Agency for the Environment and Energy Management in France) and created its own internal reference system. "We have taken the first four criteria (dismantlability, availability of parts, price, documentation) to build an evaluation system, which we have been testing for the past two years on our products." It is, as one can imagine, a long process.

"The aim is to gradually systematize this new evaluation method, and then to draw up what we call the 'Decathlon Conception Rules' (DCR), the rules that govern the design of all our products. In the long term, we hope to generalize the good design practices to make our products as easily repairable as possible. It's a big job of implementation, which necessarily takes a little time!
To achieve this, the job of "repairability leader" is being developed. Their missions? Analyze the offer, organize the availability of spare parts, support the creation of repair tutorials for DECATHLON's support site, and putting the work of the various teams involved to music.

Illustration man in front of electronical tools

Progress made on repairability in 2024

Using the repairability index developed in France by ADEME as a guide, Decathlon has established criteria to define its products’ repair potential. For each product family, the following criteria need to be fulfilled for a product to be considered repairable:
- Documentation is accessible
- Replacement parts are available
- The product can be disassembled
- The cost of repair does not exceed 30% of the purchase price

Using these four criteria, and by identifying customers’ main reasons for repairs, the teams are able to define the percentage of breakages and breakdowns that are covered by a repair solution for each product type. For a Decathlon product to be considered as benefitting from an ecodesign approach, 80% of the breakages and breakdowns related to the product’s nature must be covered. A distinction is made between products having significant repair potential (such as bicycles) and products benefitting from an ecodesign approach that makes them more repairable than other products on the market.

Decathlon continued defining reference frameworks for the 120 product types identified as priority products, i.e. establishing the criteria and thresholds that product engineers are required to respect for each one. In 2024, a framework was devised to assess product repairability for 95 of these product types. To contribute to product ecodesign, the teams published two repairable design guides for textiles and equipment this year.
Product engineers can use these to help them choose materials and techniques when designing repairable products.

In 2024, 624 products were granted the “repairable ecodesign” qualification (5% of all products benefitting from an ecodesign approach).

To go further

The end of life of our products

Design, manufacture, transport, use... What happens afterwards? What happens when our products can no longer be used?

What is a durable product?

Spoiler: if your big toe pokes a hole through your sock or your tyre punctures within the first few kilometres, they are not durable products.

What do "planetary boundaries" refer to?

Several planet boundaries have already been crossed. Let's unpack this.

Will sustainability make way for the regenerative economy?

Sustainable development, strong sustainability, regeneration… Issues that continue to grow in importance. And over the years, concepts evolve.

Is it possible to produce on a large scale while being "green"?

Like the rest of the economy, the textile sector must accelerate its ecological transition. But is this compatible with mass production?