“We have known since 2017 that France is going to organize the Olympic Games. It was perfectly possible to mobilize our textile sector to create the mascots. Especially since the volumes, compared to previous editions, are known in advance: it is necessary 2 million. This story is a waste…” When Gilles Attaf, the president of Origine France Garantie (OFG), learned in November 2022 that 90% of the “Phryge”, the official soft toys of the Games, would be manufactured in China by two French companies having won the call for tenders, his blood only boiled. “The Phrygian cap sewn by the Chinese: symbolically, it’s still a joke…” he regrets.
The idea of offering in record time a “counter-mascot”, 100% tricolor, immediately sprouted in the head of this tireless defender of “Product in France”. “There was tremendous momentum: in a few weeks, around sixty manufacturers, specializing in fabric, design or manufacturing, offered us their help,” says Benjamin Lasserre, the co-founder of La Source française, the office study commissioned on the project.
The fleece knit was provided by 4F, a knitter from Nancy. Denim inserts by the 1083 brand, based in Romans-sur-Isère. The padding – recycled and recyclable wadding – by the Norman PEG group. Right down to the labels, made by the Neyret company in Saint-Etienne. All assembled in an Auvergne workshop, in Thiers. The result ? A funny, colorful plush toy, half rooster, half phoenix, called Cocorifeu and offered on the OFG website at the price of 39 euros. The same price as the “Phryge” made in France, when their Chinese versions, of equivalent size, are sold between 5 and 13 euros less.
After a few sporting discussions with the Games Organizing Committee, Gilles Attaf finally decided to delay, to avoid unfair competition action. Cocorifeu has become “the mascot of reindustrialization”. And the symbol, hollow, of a real failure.