more friges Made in France, sold for less. Doudou & Compagnie, one of two French manufacturers selected to produce the mascots for the 2024 Olympic Games, has gone the extra mile to produce more mascots in France at a more affordable price.
Initially, the company had announced that 200,000 stuffed animals would be designed at its new factory in Guerche-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine), out of the million it will produce in total. The padding, the assembly and the sewing will be done in France, while the raw materials and the preparation of spare parts will be done in China.
For the occasion, Doudou & Compagnie expanded its site from 1,000 to 3,500 square meters and hired 45 designers. And if this already represented “a very, very big challenge” on the scale of the Breton family SME, the share of stuffed animals made in France only represented 10% of the total production of pets, estimated at two million.
A relationship too poor for the defenders of the Made in France which had provoked a reaction within the executive itself.
All the other parts, that is, 800,000 produced by Doudou & Compagnie, to which must be added the million parts for which Gipsy, the second company selected for this market, is responsible, had to be manufactured in Chinese factories.
An effort at the margin to lower the price
Faced with the controversy, Doudou & Compagnie announced on Tuesday that it would reinforce its local production objectives by increasing the share of parts manufactured in its Breton factory from 20 to 50% of its production. As a result, 500,000 friges will eventually be Made in Francebringing the proportion of stuffed toys produced in France to 25% of total production (Gipsy and Doudou & Compagnie combined).
The manufacturer’s effort will not be limited to production as the price of parts made in France will also be revised downward. In order to make them more accessible to the general public, the Phryges that leave the Guerche-de-Bretagne factory will be marketed at 39.90 euros, when they were initially offered at 49.90 euros.
Source: BFM TV
