Making innovative garments that are hard-wearing and above all affordable: this is Decathlon’s recipe for success. However, confidential documents obtained by Disclose tell a very different story about the sports retail giant. Child labour, exploited Uyghur workers in China, connections with deforestation in Brazil, etc.: our revelations show that the multinational is prepared to do anything to maximise profits.
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Although the brand has invested millions not to be typecast as a “low cost” brand, the two words are ubiquitous in internal documents that an internal source shared with Disclose. Low prices are what drives the brand to have most of its garments made by subcontractors. Decathlon has 1,264 subcontractors around the world and only nine production sites of its own. For maximum profitability, the manufacturer looks first and foremost for the cheapest factories, namely those “working for low-price brands involved in mass production,” according to an internal document listing subcontractor selection criteria. One would have thought that such an aggressive commercial strategy was the preserve of Chinese fast fashion giants such as Shein and Temu.
Its main suppliers are in Asia: in order of importance, in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The latter is actually described as a “low cost country” in an internal roadmap. Making garments in the country — where more than half the population live in slums — is a “strength” for Decathlon, according to the same document. In Bangladesh, the group works with suppliers described as “extremely low cost”. They employ adolescents who may legally be paid less than the minimum wage. Other factories in its production chain in the country are described as “clandestine” by a former member of staff. Although they supply up to 10% of the components of a shoe, the brand conducts no audits there, Disclose can reveal in the first part of its investigation.
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The thirst for profit also lured Decathlon into the arms of other problematic subcontractors in China. The second part of our investigation, published on Thursday 6 February, in partnership with Cash Investigation, reveals that one of its main local partners resorts to the forced labour of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority persecuted by Beijing. Our undercover investigation in two Chinese factories also reveals that Decathlon uses cotton from Xinjiang, the Uyghur home region, where forced labour accusations are rife.
Our investigation on the multinational with 931 million euros profit in 2023 also took us to Brazil. The third part, published in partnership with Dutch media outlet Follow the Money on Saturday 8 February, looks into the origin of another raw material: the leather that is used to make the famous Quechua walking boots. The factories that assemble them in Vietnam use cattle hides from Brazil at the risk of contributing to eradication of primary forests in the country.
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Putain c’est presque comme si toutes les entreprises étaient maléfiques