Decathlon, a well known sporting goods retailer, will be now known as Nolhtaced (Decathlon written backwards) in a plan to promote “reverse shopping”.
The promoted “reverse shopping” scheme is a Decathlon project, allowing their customers to resell old sporting goods to the retailer, so that it can repair it and sell it again – keeping the lifespan of the sport clothing longer. Resold, second-hand items are going to be covered by the Decathlon warranty.
Arnaud De Coster, second-hand Nolhtaced Belgium manager, said:
We want to make sure everyone can play sports in an environmentally conscious way. To grow sustainably, we are therefore fully committed to our buy-back service, our second-hand offer, rental, and repairs.
At first glance, this name change to Nolhtaced may seem like a marketing stunt, but our main aim is to make our buy-back service known to the widest possible audience and thus reuse as many items as possible, lower the threshold for second-hand and increase purchasing power.
There was also a test phase of this initiative, during when Decathlon bought back 26,000 items. That’s 26k more sport items back in the circulation!
Joeri Moons, sustainability manager Nolhtaced Belgium, is adding:
Our classic consumption pattern has to change: buy fewer new products and resell, repair or rent older material. Consumers are also starting to look at stuff differently than before. It is less about possession and more about use
The company is going hard with their social channels to promote this interesting initiative. And from what I can see, it’s going great! It’s popularizing the reselling concept to more people, normalizing buying second-hand items, keeping the sustainable fashion strong!
If you want to sell something to Decathlon, you will receive a purchase voucher for your old and not used garments. You can use it to buy new and refurbished equipment. If the item you brought cannot be fixed and resold, you can leave it there either way, and Decathlon will recycle it free of charge. At least if you can’t keep the item in circular economy, you can dispose it in an eco-friendly way.
Decathlon took a first, important step to introduce some idea of reusability into their business plan. Hopefully the initiative is going to be successful, and more retailers will follow.
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