• Former Franco-Qatari handball player Bertrand Roiné launched the Fan Shemagh, together with Didier Grande, a keffiyeh in the colors of the 2022 World Cup nations

  • The product appeals to local brands.

    Enough to make it the vuvuzela of the 2022 World Cup?

From our Special Envoy in Doha,

“It's a jackpot, there!

In his tent at Arabian Nights in Lusail – where the atmosphere of a camp in the middle of the desert is recreated – Didier Grande is satisfied with a pleasant coincidence.

Right in front of him, two Saudi women set up a selfie corner for tourists addicted to networks.

The assurance for this French expatriate to see his Shemaghs on the posts of influencers who will pass by in the area.

The shemaghs are a type of keffiyeh that Didier and his famous sidekick Bertrand Roiné (former world handball champion with the Blues) have decided to decline in the colors of all the nations of the World Cup.

We call it Fan Shemagh.

The ex-professional handball player bedridden by a nasty cold, it is his partner who welcomes us to tell the genesis.

It was two years ago.

“One evening, during a French team qualifying match that we were watching with friends, my 5-year-old son arrived with a Shemagh that we had bought in the souk.

He put it on his head and started dancing in front of the TV.

It tilted.

»


32 euros each, cotton, handmade

There followed an adventure on a human scale facilitated by the dual nationality of Roiné, who also wore the colors of Qatar.

“Having carried out the project is a source of pride, he told AFP, because I have played handball all my life.

I have no training to do that, to set up a business, to do marketing, to do design.

All of these things we learned on the job.

»

In the role of the secondary characters of the adventure, a friend designer in Australia and a family of the North of India employed during one year and half for the production of a product which wants to be qualitative.

All for an estimated selling price of 32 euros.

“We did something of quality in handmade cotton, explains Didier Grande, scrolling through the very recent photos of a South Korean supporter happy to wear the habit.

It took time to find the process for printing.

For countries like Mexico and Ecuador there are many colors and details that are difficult to reproduce.

We are happy with the rendering, because we managed to render something of quality.

»



And to import the notion of eco-responsibility into Qatar.

“We sell the Shemagh with a packaging that is a compostable corncob bag.

We also wrapped it in kraft paper.

In short, not plastic.

The competition can't say the same, if green considerations don't go over their heads.

Available at the metro exit or in the souk, these keffiyehs are more like what you would expect from a cheap product: good synthetic material that sticks to your skin when the sun is set to thermostat 200. And whose cut would be coarser.

“We refused to do anything parodic, like pranks and tricks, so as not to offend Middle Eastern culture.

We leave the customer as the only judge, in the meantime, the good news is that there is a market.

And that's all that matters when you aspire to become the "vuvuzela of the 2022 World Cup."

Lucky you, the mascot of the 2022 World Cup is a shemagh

Not really an ambition, by the way “These are people who pointed it out to us.

We hope that is what will come out of this World Cup in Qatar.

We would like to see people at the stadium and around the stadiums with the Shemagh, bring some home.

It's almost Christmas too.

To achieve their ends, the two Frenchmen rely on mass distribution.

But not too big.

The creators of the Shemagh fan considered working with Carrefour for a while before backpedaling, the production load was unsustainable for a human-sized company.

On the other hand, the dress is on sale at Fnac in Doha and in museums in the emirate.

It is also available at Printemps de Doha, which opened recently.

A gateway to a new market.

“They would like us to make them in the colors and in the effigy of Printemps.

»


Doha Airport is also keeping a close eye on this independent spin-off, although the entrepreneurial duo prefers to stay on the sidelines for the time being.

During the World Cup, the international airport is FIFA territory, which is known to have no mercy for anyone who deigns to compete with it.

Didier Grande is very careful about this.

“When we discovered that the World Cup mascot would be a shemagh, some media associated us with her.

We refused to do it openly so as not to encroach on Fifa's territory.

But if people associate us with it, so much the better!

A happy coincidence, one more.

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