In the Marais district of Paris, it’s not unusual to see people spilling out on to the streets from a shop or art gallery in the evening. But, at Distance, the people are all runners. The company’s flagship store on rue des Filles du Calvaire is often packed when exclusive shoe launches and other buzzy events are taking place.
Marketing is a strong element of Distance, which has staged viral stunts such as “rob it to get it”, in which shoppers were allowed to keep anything with a marked tag if they could outrun the shop’s security guard. He, though, was Méba-Mickaël Zézé, one of France’s fastest sprinters. (Only two out of 76 shoppers got away, according to the brand.)
Distance, which also has stores in Lyon, Copenhagen and Iten, in Kenya, is now extending beyond its retail spaces. During this summer’s Olympics, it has taken over the nearby restaurant Così and staged a pop-up in collaboration with nutrition brand Maurten. From the pop-up, it streamed the Games, held talks and used it as a starting point for runs. A few doors down, it launched “Distance Souvenir” which, inspired by museum gift shops, sold trinkets made in partnership with sports brands such as On Running, Hoka and Nike.
Guillaume Pontier, one of Distance’s two co-founders, has the lanky build of a runner and walks with soft steps. He lives in the 12th arrondissement to be near the Bois de Vincennes (for his runs, of course). His father, Jean-François, is a running coach.
Pontier was living in Lyon when he was introduced to his business partner, Xavier Tahar, at a dinner in 2017. Pontier was 31 and Tahar was 32. “We matched instantly,” Pontier recalls. He already had the idea for Distance, and Tahar’s background in finance and business was the missing piece. “He’s someone who is really spontaneous,” Pontier says of Tahar. “I explained the project to him and he liked it, so there we went!” A few months after their meeting, the first Distance store opened in Lyon in 2018.
At the core of Distance’s success is social media: “If you look at the social media accounts of our competitors, they’re really cheesy; there isn’t much storytelling,” says Pontier. “We found that there weren’t really stores for the new generation, those in their twenties to forties. We didn’t revolutionise things, just came at it with a modern approach.”
The look of Distance’s stores reflects the interiors of trendy fashion boutiques: exposed concrete and wood-panelled walls, with tubular metal rails or suspended wires to display clothing. It stocks brands that are hard to find in France, such as Canadian trail shoe company Norda, Paris-based running brand Satisfy and running apparel and sunglasses label District Vision. It is also involved in some unexpected collaborations — selling, for example, a trail runner’s cup with Copenhagen café Prolog and slides with nutrition brand KRC.
The concept has attracted a wide range of shoppers, including restaurateur Thibault Harré, who was spotted recently shopping for shoes for his daughter. Young men are routinely seen in the store, including one last week wearing an Olympics identification badge.
While running as a sport has not traditionally been as ubiquitous in Paris as in other European cities, this is changing: walk along the Seine on a weekday evening and you will probably be passed by a running club. Indeed, what was once laughed at as an activity for foreigners has become commonplace in many French cities.
According to the Union Sport & Cycle, the professional organisation for sports businesses in France, 12.5mn people (25 per cent of the French adult population) go running, and two-thirds of those do so more at least once a week. The demographic of those taking part in running clubs skews younger (millennials and Gen Z), with most in well-paid professional jobs.
Distance’s goal is to expand to London next year, followed by Milan in 2026 and then the US — potentially New York and Los Angeles in 2027 and 2028, respectively, ahead of the next Olympic Games. “The idea from the beginning was not to stretch across France,” Pontier says, “but to go international. That’s why we always communicate in English.”
Distance also has a community project in Iten, Kenya, which opened in 2022. Pontier wanted to help local Kenyan runners who might not be able to afford high-end trainers by selling shoes that have been lightly used and cleaned, for less than £10 a pair. The entire proceeds of each sale go towards the salaries of the brand’s two employees in the town.
Pontier and Tahar have since expanded into other ventures. In 2021, they launched marketing agency D.S.T. Studio, after shoe brand Asics contacted them to ask who was running their social media. Today, D.S.T. Studio is led by two project managers who oversee a network of 20-30 freelancers and work on creating social media content, campaigns and events. The store and agency brought in a combined €3mn in sales last year.
The duo have also launched their own private label of cotton T-shirts, running socks, palo santo wood (whose aroma when burnt is meant to help with relaxation) and coffee-table books of running photography. Pontier plans to introduce apparel, as well as backpacks and shoes, later on. And, for €1,100, shoppers can buy a trip to Iten to train alongside Kenyan runners (the upcoming trip in February 2025 will be Distance’s fourth).
Distance, says Pontier, is not simply about selling clothes to run in. “What we sell is an experience.”
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