France laments inability to make 2024 Olympic mascots

Only a small fraction of the mascots for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be made in France, as a result of the country's changed manufacturing structure, with the majority of the toys to be made in China, French officials have said.

Unveiled on Nov 14, the red triangle-shaped mascots named Phryges, which come with a smile, blue eyes, tricolor ribbon and big colored sneakers, are based on a symbol from the French Revolution.

The Phryges mascots are manufactured by French companies Gipsy Toys and Doudou et Compagnie. While they use fabric produced in the French region of Brittany, the toys will primarily be made in China.

The Paris Olympic Committee said 8 percent of the mascots would be made in France, out of Chinese-produced materials, with the remainder outsourced to China.

"I would love to, and we're working so that France can have the raw materials and textile factories for making two million dolls in a few months, but the fact is that today we cannot do it," said government spokesperson Olivier Veran.

"It's a structural problem due to the fact that for years, France has lost its factories," he told France 2 television.

Veran added the government was trying hard to relocate French businesses that are producing in China to make sure "we will, tomorrow, be able to produce what we no longer know how to produce today."

The ethic business owners' association in France said the choice was "an insult to all French companies" and that there was still time to produce the millions of toys at home.

Christophe Bechu, the minister of environmental transition, said he hopes that France could find a better solution amid environmental concerns.

"We're not going to find ourselves, at a time when we're saying we need local distribution networks and reindustrialization, producing mascots on the other side of the world, especially when we're defending the fight against global warming, which implies promoting what is manufactured nearby," Bechu said.

Climate activists also pointed out the pollution that will be generated from shipping the toys to France, contrary to the government's pledge to take stronger action to tackle climate change.

The Paris mascots news came after China saw almost 70 percent of the market share of all the merchandise for the FIFA 2022 World Cup, currently taking place in Qatar, being made in China's small commodity hub Yiwu, Zhejiang province.

The Paris Olympics will be held in July and August 2024, and the Paralympics in August-September. Licensed products of the mascots will be available from Nov 15 at the Paris 2024 official store.