Have you ever bought new sports gear — maybe a tennis racket, yoga mat, or camping tent — and felt like it doesn’t have the same quality as it used to back in the day? You’re not alone.

Due to the rapid rise in production for the sake of quantity, many products today don’t seem to meet the same standards of quality, turning them into throwaway items that add to the growing pile in landfills.

Decathlon is working to change that. The brand is focusing on making sure their products are durable and built to last through all your adventures. They are also removing sustainability claims from their products until those claims can be fully backed and confirmed by facts and data.

What is Sustainable Sports Gear?

It’s becoming harder to call something “sustainable” in today’s world. Products often don’t last as long or look as good over time — materials fray, elasticity wears out, parts break — and all of this leads to gear becoming waste too soon.

Decathlon is stepping up by focusing on durability and quality in their products, so you can enjoy them for years to come. That’s what true sustainability is all about.

Both H&M and Decathlon, and more players in the industry, have recently been under fire for making sustainability claims on products, pushing them to rethink and improve how they communicate these efforts.

Guidelines and Law Making 

The European Union has been making strides toward a sustainable 2050 through national programs and the Paris Agreement. The Netherlands, in particular, seems to be at the forefront of these industry changes.

New goals were outlined by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), where fashion and clothing brands must refrain from using sustainability labels unless these claims are thoroughly investigated and verified.

Decathlon Enters Circular Economy

Decathlon would like to sell sustainably developed products, but how are they going to do this?

First, they aim to define the lifecycle of products by putting them through a series of wear tests designed to replicate traditional use and wear. The tests will take place both in laboratories and through real-life testing.

As a result, certain product categories — like fish mills, SUP boards, and kayaks- will now come with a defined service life, meaning they are guaranteed to withstand a minimum number of uses. This will help guide product care and maintenance, giving the consumer a clear breakdown of the product’s durability and warranty.

Lucile Cazaux, project manager at Decathlon's Centre for Sustainable Development, highlights, "We are aware that if we want to reduce our environmental impact, we will have to sell fewer new products and adapt our economic model to a more circular model to reduce our consumption of raw materials." The company is also promoting circular practices like repair, buy-back, rental and second-hand items.

Durability is Sustainability at Decathlon

Decathlon is making sure that sustainability is not just a buzzword or marketing trick. At Decathlon, sustainability is scientifically certified and researched to avoid empty or misleading claims on products.

An example of their commitment is the tests they run on socks to define the lifecycle and appropriate care. The tests involve putting over 200 types of socks through trials by rubbing sandpaper on areas where socks particularly tend to lose quality.

With the data collected, Decathlon can now provide customers with clear information on durability, lifecycle, and appropriate care for the items sold in-store.

Future at Decathlon

Decathlon is making significant strides toward transparent and researched sustainability. With newly introduced guidelines, brands can no longer label products as “eco-friendly” or “eco-designed” without proper verification and certification.

This shift brings hope to consumers, ensuring that the products they invest in genuinely live up to their sustainability claims.

However, the question remains: Will these new standards be enough to change industry-wide practices, or is this just a first step in a much larger movement toward true sustainability?

Re The Agency also spoke with Laurens Nolet, Circular Lead at Decathlon Netherlands, in the latest episode of the podcast.

Listen to the episode now on your favourite podcast platform:

- Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e35DANnk
- Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/emfZbwMM
- Soundcloud: https://lnkd.in/eXKtTWcw

 Please note: the episode is in Dutch.