Unfazed by the sounds of the blower, the hum of the upholstery machine and the brush strokes, Mélanie (who did not wish to give her name) works to connect, with her sewing machine, the different fabrics of the “ Phryge”, the emblematic plush toy of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 40-year-old seamstress joined the Doudou et Compagnie factory located in Brittany less than two years ago. The French company has been selected to develop the mascots for the next Games, under official license. If 75% of its Phryges production is carried out in its Chinese factory, the remaining 25% is in the Guerche-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine) factory inaugurated in 2022.
“The Olympics are emblematic. There is a pride in participating and putting our little touch to it. We have the impression of being part of the big gear”, rejoices Mélanie, met on November 8. Fabric cutting, embroidery, sewing, padding, closing, checking, packaging; A total of sixteen pairs of hands are needed to create a single “made in Guerche” mascot.
In November 2022, the manufacturing of Olympic soft toys in China sparked controversy. Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, justified the situation as “a structural problem”and that France was not able “to have enough raw materials and textile factories to manufacture two million soft toys in a few months”.
Part of production relocated to France
“We will try to have more ambition regarding the relocation of production to France. We will try to raise this proportion” of mascots made in France, promised the Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. Particularly in the Breton factory of Doudou et Compagnie, south-east of Rennes.
In the 1990s, the company followed the wave of manufacturing relocation to Asian countries. “With our prices and profitability, we could not fight against this movement”explains Alain Joly, at the head of the toy group since 1975. Soft toys are among the highest cost manufactured products due to the labor required for their development.
Thirty years later, the manager bet on Brittany, chosen for its historical know-how, to relocate part of its production. “Forty years ago, the biggest plush factory in France was herehe relates. THE Doudou et Compagnie’s first workers came from there, which ensured skills. »
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