"In September 2018, a partnership with Oscar Lambret was signed to co-design a sports bra for women after breast cancer. This is stage 1 of the project.
Sport reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 24%. Existing post-operative bras are expensive, difficult to access, unfeminine and medicalized in design. As our DNA is to make sport accessible to as many people as possible, KALENJI has created a partnership with the Oscar Lambret Center to co-design with patients and doctors a bra for (re)starting sport after breast cancer.
For the first time on the market, Decathlon will be offering its most technically demanding bra, without compromising on comfort or beauty. Designed for women, it's suitable for everyone: the high technical standards applied to its development mean that we can offer it to the widest possible audience (and not just women affected) without a prosthesis pocket, softer (materials never before used) and easier to adjust than existing bras (from the front).
In October 2018, phase 2 of the project was born: the creation of a sports hall on the Oscar Lambret premises.
The Centre OSCAR LAMBRET has created a "mon sport santé" program to help patients get back into sport, both during and after their treatment. Patients are supervised by a specialized educator, through individual and group lessons. We, at Decathlon, have all the cards in hand, both internally and through our external network, to support them in this project."
Delphine and Judith, from passion brand KALENJI, and Nicolas wanted to be part of the adventure to make sport accessible to women and men affected by breast cancer.
"Why I chose to do this project...
Because all the women I met touched me, because I understood that with our help, they could more easily go and do their sports session and that I could, indirectly, take part in their remission.
Why I loved doing this project...
Because this project is a real team effort and a real human adventure: a close-knit development team, motivated caregivers, committed patients, and a Kalenji team that supports us every day with its vision. Because I'm happy to be involved in a project that makes sense, and I'm proud to have succeeded in bringing together two entities that might be considered opposites: a health center and our company. I developed this product above all because it meets the expectations of people in distress, and because it serves the purpose of Décathlon.
Why I'm proud of this project:
Because I was able to make a product for women after cancer, but also for all women. I was able to seize the opportunity to use this very specific co-development to make a top-of-the-range product for all other women. I'm proud to have pushed Decathlon's limits by insisting on developing a specific material that didn't exist. I'm proud to make it an accessible product."
Judith, KALENJI Product Manager
"In September 2018, I joined a project group within Kalenji jogging to support the communication of a bra co-designed with patients and doctors at the Oscar Lambret Center. I took part in the regular fittings of our bra, which took place during the patients' return to sport session, every Monday or Thursday afternoon, led by the dedicated specialist educator, Hervé Mocaer. During these moments of sharing, I received touching testimonials from the co-conceptors/patients, who always spoke from the heart, without filters. They spoke of the benefits of sport for their physical and psychological health. The power of social ties. The power of not feeling alone. The power of support and sharing. The power of a daily appointment that's not disease-oriented. The power of sharing anxieties, needs for professional change and personal change.
On October 8, 2018, I take part in awareness-raising workshops at Oscar Lambret, led by doctor/oncologist Laurence Vanlemmens and specialist educator Hervé Mocaer. The figures are in: sport reduces the risk of recurrence by 24% and the mortality rate by 50%. Another friend, a work colleague who also suffered from the disease 4 years ago, suggests that we share her first marathon in Edinburgh in May 2019. A race number that I take with my eyes closed on November 15, 2018. A finish line we cross together, hand in hand, such a powerful moment I'll never forget. Something essential emerges as a matter of course, a human-centered matter of course, of helping others, of acting positively for others. I need to make sense of what I'm doing, so that it has a lasting impact on the social issues that are so crucial to me."
Delphine, Communication Leader KALENJI