Decathlon Sports Mates Design

Even though we’re French, and we’re pretty damn proud of our language, we decided to settle on the English word “Mate” for a couple of reasons. Firstly you guys love our accent when we speak English, so it gives us a chance to show off a little.. after that, well, we have to admit it does come across a little bit cooler than the equivalent French word, ‘ami’. But even more importantly, for us the word “Mate” evokes images of friends sharing sporting moments together. And that’s what we’re all about.

So we’d define a “Mate” as a sort of buddy, the kind of person you’re happy to share changing-room banter with before a game and share a red-card with on the field. They’re the kind of friend who pushes all of us to do our best, each and every time. They’re the kind of guy or girl who has blisters on the soles of their feet, but who’s always willing to go one step further.
“Mates” are people who seek the perfect balance between their skinny flat-white latte and their trusty yoga mat. They’re the kind of people who reimagine the city as their own personal playground, creating their own skatepark or zig-zagging their way through morning traffic. At their most basic “Mates” are the people we train with, the people we play with and the people we workout with, but ultimately they’re much more than that..

Now that you know what being a “Mate” means to us, it’s time for you to get to know our “Mates” a little bit better. They’re each going to guide you through the various design stages during which we come up with our renowned sporting experiences.

Enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of our design process including our use of user-observation, up-cycling and co-creation !

Have fun, oh.. and don't forget to switch off the lights when you’re done !

For quite some time now we’ve been bringing together sports enthusiasts and product designers. Our story started way back in 1976 when the first Decathlon store was opened in Englos, a small town just outside of Lille in the North of France, and within 20 years, our first sports brands began making an appearance. Among them were Tribord (our pioneering boat shoes) and Quechua (a brand that since the introduction of our revolutionary 2-second tent in 2005 no longer needs any introduction).

We strive to keep design at the heart of the user experience, and this is what pushes us to innovate as much as possible every single day. For us a product shouldn’t just look good, it needs to be fit for its purpose, and raise a few eyebrows. After all, who doesn’t remember the sense of pride they had when they took off their training-wheels for the first time.

Don’t waste your time doing useless Facebook surveys to find out what your favourite flower says about your personality, discover your “Mate” right here.