All products related to Decathlon water sports have necessarily been designed in these workshops. In Hendaye, in the Basque Country, the global sporting goods giant has relied for twenty years on its “Water Sports Center” to develop or improve its diving outfits and masks, swimsuits and even surfboards.
It is here that the famous Easybreath was created around ten years ago, a snorkeling mask which today sells “several million copies around the world” underlines Stéphane Saigre, director of Water Sports. “It was by listening to our customers who were unable to take up snorkeling, because they could not breathe through their noses, that we launched this project,” he says.
How ? “We started with a simple paint mask that we tinkered with and tested in our pool, to check if we were able to breathe in a mask. After validating the concept, we went through different phases of prototypes and models. Between the first commercialized version and today’s version, we have reduced the number of parts and the carbon impact of the product, which has also become repairable. »
“Supporting the product throughout its life”
Environmental footprint, second life and reparability have become the key words in the corridors of the Water Sports Center over the last two years, which nevertheless retains its primary function of innovation. “We went from designers to eco-designers,” insists Stéphane Saigre throughout the visit to the 10,000 m2 of this gigantic workshop.
For example, Decathlon launched the repair of foam surfboards two years ago, a product that is “great for learning or practicing without getting injured, but fragile,” recognizes Stéphane Saigre. “And as much as there are solutions to repair rigid surfboards, there were none for foam surfboards… Until our teams, here in Hendaye, found an innovative solution with recovered plastic bags. To date, we have trained 32 technicians and today, more than 40% of the boards are repaired, in six different countries. »
The same goes for inflatable stand-up paddle boards, Decathlon’s flagship product. Despite all its advantages, notably compactness for transport, the product has its weaknesses, particularly at the assembly points. “We are at 80% repair of these products, which represents 17,000 boards saved per year, in twenty countries. The idea is to support the product throughout its life, to extend its duration as long as possible. »
A material-saving palm, designed by artificial intelligence
Products which are sometimes, moreover, offered for rental as a second life. “It’s entirely relevant, particularly for water sports where we have a number of products that are ultimately little used,” explains Stéphane Saigre. In our Hendaye store, we offer 3,000 second-life items and carry out 500 rentals per year; across France, there are 425,000 items and 42,000 rentals [uniquement sur les sports d’eau]. We are experiencing strong growth, and this will be part of our business model of tomorrow. »
Even innovation wants to be responsible now. Raphaël Vis, product designer, has just designed Décahtlon’s brand new palm, the “react”, designed using artificial intelligence with the aim of reducing the environmental footprint. How ? By reducing the volume of raw material used.
“The challenge was to use less material while maintaining the product’s performance in water,” explains the engineer. It is a product that comes from iterations based on algorithms using artificial intelligence. It is inspired by life, by models that can be found on a bone or organic structure. This gives it an unexpected shape, the particularity of which is to offer an almost instantaneous response time between the movement of the foot and the push in the water. » “It’s a lighter, more efficient fin, with the addition of an easily unravelable component, which is important from the perspective of recycling,” adds Stéphane Saigre.
New recyclable component for swimwear
Innovation also involves research into new components. This is how Decathlon has recently offered suits in Yulex 100, 100% natural rubber. Stéphane Saigre also presented a new “exclusive Decathlon” component for his swimsuits, the Negombo.
“One of the problems with the swimsuit is that it is partly made with elastane for elasticity, a material that we cannot recycle,” explains the director of Water Sports. This is how our “components team” unearthed the Negombo, an elastic component with 85% recycled material, without elastane. It is a specific yarn, very interesting because it is five times more durable than the existing one, and as it is a deknitable component, this opens the way to recyclability. »
All prototypes are now developed from A to Z in the Water Sports Center “whereas previously, we went back and forth a lot with the industrialist,” Stéphane Saigre further emphasizes. This allows us to move faster and reduce our carbon impact.” But for manufacturing, industries remain overwhelmingly in Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand.