China-made Paris Olympics mascots fuel criticism in France

The mascots for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics will be made mostly in China, although the symbols are a point of French pride, and have now come under fire at a time of concern that the nations depend mass of the world’s second largest economy. .

Stuffed Phryges, soft, red hats, are manufactured by French companies Gipsy Toys and Doudou et Compagnie. They use fabrics developed in the French region of Brittany, but the toys are mostly made in China. Only 8% of the mascot will be manufactured in France.

French government spokesman Olivier Véran said the manufacturing of the pets in China was due to a “structural problem”.

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST ATTENTION TO PARIS 2024, ANNOUNCES NEXT SEASON WILL BE LAST IN AUBURN

The mascots of the Paris 2024 Olympics, right, and the Paralympics, a Phrygian cap, jump during a preview in Saint Denis, outside Paris. The bright red soft cap, also known as the liberty cap, is an updated version of a conical hat worn in ancient times in places like Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, where it originated the name, in present-day Turkey.
(AP)

“I would love, and we are fighting for this, that in France we could have enough raw materials and textile factories to make 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 was trying to move French companies that produce to China to make sure that “we can produce tomorrow what we no longer know how to produce today”.

Organizers of the summer games said they focused on choosing a mascot that represented an “ideal” rather than an animal or creature.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Phrygian cap is an updated version of a conical hat that was worn in ancient times in places like Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, a place in present-day Turkey from which the name comes. It later became a symbol of the quest for freedom in the French Revolution.

The Paris Olympics will be held from July to August 2024 and the Paralympics will be held in August and September. Pet sales went on sale Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.