The mascots for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will be mostly made in China, despite the symbols being a source of French pride, and have now come under fire at a time of concern over nations becoming too dependent on the second largest economy. largest in the world.
Stuffed Phryges – soft smiling red hats – are produced by the French companies Gipsy Toys and Doudou et Compagnie. They use fabrics developed in the Brittany region of France, but the toys are mostly made in China. Only about 8% of the mascot will be made in France.
French government spokesman Olivier Véran said the making of the mascots in China was due to a “structural problem”.
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The mascots of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, right, and the Paralympic Games, a Phrygian cap, jump during a preview in Saint Denis, outside Paris. The soft bright red cap, also known as the liberty cap, is an updated version of a conical hat worn in ancient times in places such as Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, where the name originates from, in present-day Turkey.
(AP)
“I would like, and we fight for it, that in France we would be able to have enough raw materials and textile factories to produce two million stuffed animals in a few months,” he told France 2 TV. “The fact is that, today, we don’t know how to do it”.
He added that the government is trying to relocate French firms that produce to China in an attempt to ensure that “tomorrow we will be able to produce what we no longer know how to produce today.”
Organizers of the summer games said they focused on choosing a mascot that would represent an “ideal” over an animal or creature.
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The Phrygian cap is an updated version of a conical hat worn in ancient times in places such as Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, a place in present-day Turkey where the name originates. It later became a symbol of the pursuit of freedom during the French Revolution.
The Paris Olympics will take place from July to August 2024 and the Paralympics will take place in August and September. The mascot sales went on sale on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
