Decathlon pulled its running hijab in France after a week of political fury

Decathlon's 'hijab de running' — a nylon hood designed to let Muslim women cover their hair while jogging — was originally created in Morocco at the request of customers there. When the French chain offered it in France in February 2019, it sparked days of acrimonious public debate as politicians across the political spectrum said it violated French principles of secularism.

After virulent social-media criticism in which Decathlon staff members were insulted and threatened, the retailer said late on 26 February it had suspended the sale of the item in France, citing the safety of its employees. The product remained, in effect, a casualty of a political row: French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said the next day that sports stores are free to sell the running hijab, that there were no legal objections, and that 'the debate on this issue became hysterical and I regret that'.

The context was France's fraught line between secularism and religious dress: civil servants cannot wear hair-covering veils at work, face-covering veils are banned in public, and garments seen as asserting religious identity routinely trigger controversy even when legal — as the 2016 seaside-town burkini bans had already shown.

Decathlon treated the hijab as a sporting product answering customer demand, and misread how charged any religious garment is in France's secularist politics.

The attacks came from across the political spectrum, leaving the retailer with no political cover once the item became a national debate.

Threats to staff gave the company a safety rationale to retreat, but retreating alienated the customers the product was designed for and drew accusations of capitulation.

Suspending the item only in France — while the justice minister confirmed its legality — highlighted that the decision was about pressure, not law.

A product designed by demand elsewhere becomes a political symbol at home: Decathlon's retreat satisfied neither side and left the brand hostage to a controversy it never wanted.

The suspension applied to France; the item remained part of Decathlon's range elsewhere. Belloubet's intervention confirmed there was no legal obstacle to selling it, and the justice minister publicly regretted the 'hysterical' tone of the debate. Euronews and Reuters reported the withdrawal in February 2019; the article does not report whether Decathlon later reintroduced the product in France.