THE MOST OVERLOOKED POWER PLAYER IN SPORTSWEAR? DECATHLON.

Consider the major players leading the conversation in sports and outdoor-wear today. Decathlon would not enter the equation. The French company has been a quiet stalwart of sports retail since its founding in 1976. It is a purveyor of all sports, master of none, offering technically sound gear and exceptional value for money. It’s the all-sports specialist for a mass-market customer, with over 1,817 stores in 79 countries worldwide, making it the largest sports retailer in the world; its revenue hit a record €16.2 billion in 2024. Yet Decathlon does not offer aspirational products, nor is it a luxury company. It’s the IKEA of the outdoors.

Decathlon has never been cool. It has never earned the kudos of The North Face, Nike or Arc’Teryx—besides, customer perception still positions it as a multi-sport retailer, not a brand. “Growing up, it was very uncool,” says Elodie Marteau, a foresight researcher & brand strategist who grew up in Paris. It was the kind of store unfashionable dads would shop at for their everyday wear, before gorpcore was gorpcore and long before dad style became a fashion trend—Decathlon’s dad demographic was never trendy in the way a New Balance grandad might be posited. “Decathlon is very low key,” she says. “The designs were very minimalist and purpose-driven. The appeal was in the fact you could buy everything there.”

The sports and retail industry is booming. The sports equipment and apparel sector is transcendent, worth $374.2 billion in 2023 and predicted to reach $991.8 billion by 2034, according to Allied Market Research. There is enormous demand, and amid this, Decathlon is perfectly positioned to dominate.

In an era when being cool is currency, how can an underdog lacking in any fashion forwardness become a leader in the space? Simple. By staying true to its ethos.

The trend for gorpcore turned Arc’teryx, The North Face and Salomon towards urbanites who had never stepped foot on the trails or in the mountains, and those brands, among others, have shifted towards a more lifestyle-orientated customer and retail strategy. The North Face is stocked in Selfridges and Mr Porter; Arc’teryx is stocked at End. Arc’teryx’s Beta jacket became a cult item on TikTok. Today, its beanie hat is popular with the active lifestyle influencer girlie on Instagram. Their price points are luxury, but what was once a signal has become mainstream. At what point does it become basic?

Decathlon, meanwhile, has maintained its core demographic and USP of well-priced, technical gear. That’s not to say Decathlon is not innovating: inroads and internal strategies in the last few years have sought to reposition the company from being a traditional multi-brand retailer to being an umbrella brand. It now has numerous sport-specific sports brands within its portfolio. It has invested €100 million in Germany and another €100 million in India, expanding its store network. It has also sponsored Paris Design Week in 2024, and the World Design Congress in 2025. For a company known for its rather low-brow approach to aesthetics, the alignment at such festivals might appear jarring.

But design has various guises. Today, as fashion language has infiltrated popular culture, we have come to recall design as something that is aesthetic and expensive, as well as performative. It’s Apple versus Blackberry; Rimowa versus non-brand travelware. But that catch-all is not always appropriate. IKEA’s Billy bookcase is not aesthetic, but the ease of build makes it design genius; prices start from £35. Technicality, performance and innovation falls under design. Plus, Decathlon is innovating deeper than many big-name brands while maintaining its price point. In today’s saturated sports market, with global economic instability, this is a persuasive sell to customers.

We are also in an era of nostalgia. Social media, smartphones and the rise of endless sponsored posts—combined with the daily news cycle—has left many people craving a simpler time and a more straightforward culture around consumerism. Decathlon hits this brief. In France, it’s the first destination kids go to for all things sports and outdoor. It’s trusted, humble, and affordable. In this online world, it feels like brands and businesses across all sectors are chasing momentary fanfare. Decathlon might never have led culture, but it has also never intentionally chased. This gives the company a compelling advantage, especially during this time of high customer discernment when shoppers are seeking authenticity and originality—they’re also more aware than ever about insincerity. Decathlon’s purist approach to performance could become a huge power play.

As Decathlon celebrates its 50th year, we believe its authenticity will soon set it apart from other major players in the market. And we think it’s primed to lead in sectors that command a higher spend—cycling, camping and skiing—because it can offer such exceptional value for money in parallel to technical innovation. “A £3,000 bike at Decathlon would cost over £5,000 elsewhere,” says William Cook, a retired keen cyclist from the UK. “It’s not Rapha where you’re paying for the name and you’re paying for the brand… but Decathlon’s Van Rysel still has credibility because it’s worn by Tour de France teams.”

Quality, honesty and integrity are paramount in an era of shopper fatigue, the soaring cost of premium sports products and the glut of sponsored posts and brand campaigns on social media. Decathlon’s honesty in pricing feels like a palate cleanse: customers like to feel like they “aren’t getting ripped off”, says Cook. Decathlon’s Van Rysel Pro cycling range is one of six in-house sports brands; others include Kiprun (running), Quechua (mountaineering) and Domyos (gym equipment). Running is arguably its biggest challenge as Decathlon has so many competitors, both from heritage and cutting-edge brands. It’s not impossible, but it will require careful strategy to break ground.

Within cycling, camping and skiing, there is a real opportunity for Decathlon to go deep on these sectors within stores to offer a sense of discovery, surprise and delight and experience. That Decathlon stores are mostly situated on industrial estates mean they lack the passing foot traffic of city-centre destinations—every customer through the door has made an intentional decision to travel there. What if the in-store experience aligned more with IKEA, where customers go to play house and buy a hot dog as a souvenir, even if they’re only shopping for a photo frame? Careful strategy could unlock the Decathlon version of that: it needs to feel premium, inspiring customers to spend more time in-store in the way that the current ambience does not.

Decathlon is a space that is built for browsing. And creating shop-in-shop experiences dedicated to each sector could really enhance that notion of adult play. It’s also an opportunity to scale the products from different price points, offering entry level, intermediate and ‘pro’ ranges that offer similar technicality but act as a differentiator. What if customers went to buy hiking socks and came away with camping stoves and outdoor chairs, having sat for a while and played camp?

What’s crucial, however, is that Decathlon maintains its authentic experience. “They shouldn’t make it trendy,” says Marteau. “When you are a specialist brand in any sport, you don’t need to try to be cool. Fashion people will look for the niche expression of sports that sounds cool because it’s uncool; they don’t need to force that relevance.” On the 50th anniversary, Decathlon’s CEO referred to the company as “the true gorpcore brand.” Marteau thinks this was “risky”—it comes across as try-hard. “Don’t play by the rules of the trend or try to prove something when you were an OG company in this space.”

Shoppers today are more discerning than ever, and Decathlon’s ethos puts it in prime position to take huge market share moving forwards. More than that, we admire the fact that the company operates like an arthouse, premium player behind-the-scenes—it participates in design congress sponsorships and invests heavily in innovation—but crucially, this doesn’t influence the way it packages its proposition. Decathlon knows its core audience, and its internal strategies surrounding cultural relevance and arthouse alignment are always offered in an accessible formula, and at price points that don’t alienate mainstream customers. The key to success will be perfectly toeing the line between innovation and future-proofing, and staying true to its low-key originality. Rise and shine to this sleeping giant.

By Grace Cook and Nicola Strange. Featuring interviews with Elodie Marteau. Graphics by Liam Kay/Otto Studio. image credits: Pinterest, DTS, Decathlon, @decathlon, @decathlonuk. Images are used for editorial purposes only; all rights belong to their respective owners.