Decathlon SE is one of the world’s largest sporting goods companies, with a vertically integrated model spanning product research, design, testing, manufacturing, distribution, and retail. The company states that it was born in France in 1976 and designs, tests, and perfects products through European design centers and R&D facilities. Decathlon also identifies its mountain gear development as taking place at a Mountain Headquarters located near Mont Blanc, aligning with Quechua’s focus on hiking, camping, skiing, and climbing products.
Within exoskeletons, Decathlon’s most relevant known project is E-HIKE, developed under Decathlon Quechua. Decathlon’s 2024 co-creation page described E-HIKE as a mountain-sports walking-assistance exoskeleton intended to reduce leg effort by about 25% during hikes with positive and negative gradients. The same page said the project was entering a “crucial phase of development” and recruited testers for a 2024 on-site test.
In 2025, the E-HIKE prototype was publicly presented at OSV Explore in Annecy. Reporting from Le Dauphiné Libéré / Mon Séjour en Montagne described E-HIKE as a Decathlon Quechua innovation and stated that the prototype had been tested by users recruited through Decathlon Co-Creation. The article described the device as a 28-liter backpack-style exoskeleton with two motors assisting the muscles around the hip joint for leg flexion and extension, six hours of stated autonomy, and sizing intended to fit users from S to XXL.
Patent activity published in 2025 (FR3162156A1) further supports ongoing technical development. A Decathlon SE French patent application titled “Exoskeleton for assistance during a pedestrian activity” was filed on May 2, 2025, and published on November 21, 2025; it describes an exoskeleton with left and right hip actuators, thigh structures, a chest harness, a dorsal tube structure, and a target weight under 10 kg.
