Under pressure, Decathlon renounces to market her "Running hijab" in France<

Faced with an "wave of unprecedented insults and threats", the Decathlon brand finally gave up this Tuesday to market its "Running Hidjab" in France in France."We actually make a decision in complete responsibility on this Tuesday evening not to market on time that it is this product in France," said the external communication manager of Décathlon United, Xavier Rivoire, on RTL around 6 p.m..In the morning, the equipment supplier declared that he had received "more than 500 calls and emails" in one day, and brought back threats and insults to his employees in his stores.

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Le groupe Decathlon voulait emboîter le pas à d'autres enseignes, dont H&M, Uniqlo et son grand concurrent, l'équipementier sportif Nike, en s'engouffrant dans la «mode islamique».Faced with a drop in turnover in France, the brand had put on its French site a hidjab intended for women who wish to practice running while keeping their hair and their necks hidden.This polyester garment allows those who decide to wear it to gain "in comfort during [their] session", indicates the site of Decathlon, which specifies that it is available in three sizes and does not move during the race.He was "tested several times by twenty women who usually wear the hidjab" and the latter "validated it for its comfort and its responsibility".

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Questioned this Tuesday morning on RTL, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn had strongly regretted the sale, until then announced as such, of this accessory, and declared that it would have "preferred that a French brand does not promise thesail"."It is obviously allowed, and we know that secularism in France allows the wearing of the veil.This is our society.But personally, I don't want to be promoting differentiation between men and women, ”she continued.The minister is not the only one to have expressed herself on this subject, many reactions were heard this Tuesday, right and left.

The product will not be "for the time being" marketed in France

While the Kalenji Hidjab is already on sale on the Moroccan site of Decathlon, the product was not yet available on its French equivalent.Contacted Monday morning by Le Figaro, Xavier Rivoire explained that the Hidjab of the clean brand of Decathlon, Kalenji, was not supposed to be offered for sale in France for the moment.But finally, in the afternoon, "several exchanges took place within Decathlon" and the brand finally decided "to make this running accessory in stores which will ask for it" in France and inother countries.Decathlon then announced that the product would be marketed in France before the end of March.Finally, the controversy led the brand to give up.

Yesterday, the head of Kalenji, Angélique Thibault, still defended the product, stressing that he had been created in response to a request expressed by the Moroccan runners."This head cover (Hidjab Kalenji) was co-created with our Decathlon Morocco teams who wanted to make this practice accessible to all sports and future sports people in their country.We therefore make available to all countries, all cities, all stores that wish this product, it nevertheless returns to the responsibility of the one who has the delegation of power to validate it to marketing, ”she said.The brand then observed the reactions aroused by its product with "calm, decline and serenity" and the group assumed its desire to make "the practice of sport accessible to all women".The group thus claimed to be placed in a posture of "absolute tolerance and total inclusion", stressing that this running hidjab was not "a product linked to any mode, but a product dedicated to sporting use".

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This head cover will allow "each woman to be free to run in each city and each country, regardless of her sporting level, her state of form, her morphology, her budget" and "her religion" or her culture, she still argued.

Hidjabs: Should Decathlon sell it?- Watch on Figaro Live

"Extend sexual apartheid imposed on women in public space"

Decathlon is not the first equipment supplier to have wanted to embark on the juicy market for Muslim women.Major brands have already sold clothes for a population of the population, nun or not, follower of Hidjab.It must be said that the economic prospects of the Muslim fashion market - or "modest fashion", according to the name of experts - are enticing: according to the latest edition of the Global Islamic Economy Report, published by Thomson Reuters, "the spending of MuslimsConsecrated to clothes reached $ 270 billion in 2017 ", and should continue to increase in the coming years, reaching" 361 billion dollars in 2023 ".What arouse a number of lusts and push brands to rush into this growing market.

Nevertheless, companies that decide to offer products adapted to certain religious practices regularly trigger controversies, as the question of secularism is present in France.This was notably the case when the fast food Quick had decided to set up a Halal burger, or when Gap had unveiled in the United States an advertisement featuring a veiled girl.This time again, the revelation of this new product has led to strong reactions.The spokesperson for Republicans Lydia Guirous thus denounced on Twitter the submission of Decathlon to "Islamism which only tolerates women with covered head": the author of Allah is great, the Republic also sees it as a symbol of theRename "of the values of our civilization on the altar of the market and community marketing".MP and president of the socialist and related group, Valérie Rabault also expressed her astonishment on the social network.

Likewise, several collectives have expressed their rejection of this product.The League for International Women's Law and the Laïcité République committee published a joint statement denouncing the promotion of "sexual apartheid" by Decathlon: "The world of sport is an accomplice" of "confinement" of women in Iran,In Algeria and Saudi Arabia by "promoting an Islamist female model" intended to "extend sexual apartheid imposed on women in public space", criticizes the text.Returning to several episodes where international sport institutions such as FIFA and IOC have accepted Islamic clothes, the text are alarmed by the choices of brands, which prefer to capture a target audience rather than take into account moral considerations: "So muchworse for millions of women who fight all over the world for the freedom of their bodies and their minds, ”he concludes.Shared remarks on Twitter by the feminist and former Minister of Families, Childhood and Women's Rights Laurence Rossignol.

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