A few of these design centres are based in France. Their mountain sports headquarters in Haute-Savoie has the famous Chamonix as its neighbour.
The water sports HQ is located in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques, which TripAdvisor recommends for rafting, tubing, canyoning and any wet-and-wild activity. Meanwhile, their urban mobility and cycling design centre sits in bike-friendly Lille, north of France – and is also the birthplace of Decathlon back in 1976.
“Every design team is conveniently located where their sport is most accessible and frequently practised, allowing us to observe and collect feedback from users,” said Lau.
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE NAMES OF THEIR IN-HOUSE BRANDS?
The unusual names behind Decathlon’s nine in-house brands are inspired by the sport categories they represent. For instance, Quechua (say “keh chu wuh”) is borrowed from the Peruvian indigenous people who call the Andes Mountains their home. Naturally, items for camping, hiking and mountaineering fall under this brand.
Domyos, a portmanteau of “do” (meaning the way) and “myos” (meaning heart and muscle), sums up the yoga, pilates and cross-training category that the brand reps. Tribord, which is French for “starboard”, is for water- and wind-based sports such as sailing and kayaking. Meanwhile, Kuikma is known to be an Aztec word that means “team fun”, and it’s for racket sports such as badminton, tennis and squash.
There’s also Rockrider (mountain cycling), Kipsta (team sports eg. soccer, volleyball and basketball), Caperlan (fishing), Btwin (say “between”; urban sports eg. cycling, skateboarding and scootering) and Inesis (say “ee nee sis”; golf).
HOW ARE THEIR MASSIVE STORES CATEGORISED?
Their floor space ranges from 3,200sqm at Centrepoint in Orchard Road to 5,000sqm at the flagship store in Kallang. That’s a lot of ground to cover if you’re in a rush.
To help you navigate the stores, look for the sport category such as Hiking, Cycling, Running or Water Sports printed at the start of each aisle to clue you in, said Singapore’s communications manager Clarisse Ong. Else, you can always identify where you are in the store by the brands mentioned above.
