History

Michel Leclercq founded Decathlon in 1976 in Lille, France, initially as a sporting goods supermarket. It transitioned into designing proprietary brands to control production and costs. Historically, the brand influenced the democratization of technical sportswear. In recent decades, its utilitarian designs, such as the Quechua line, have been adopted by urban fashion movements like gorpcore, marking a shift from purely athletic use to a broader cultural and stylistic significance.