Lacoste

Lacoste, sport and fashion

Lacoste S.A is a French company selling clothing, footwear, sportswear, leather goods, watches, towels, eyewear as well as perfumes and fragrances.

You may recognise the company by its Green Alligator logo, which was inspired by Rene Lacoste’s nickname of ‘The Alligator’. Rene was a renowned tennis player in the 1920’s and was given this nickname by the American press due to a bet of an alligator-skin suitcase with his team captain that he would win his match.

Where it all began

Rene was born in Monein, France, on the 2nd July 1904 to parents Jeanne-Marie Magdeleine Larrieu-Let and Jean-Jules Lacoste.

He met Simone de la Chaume who was a golfing champion and they married on the 30 June 1930. Simone went on to found the Golf Club Chaantaco in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, where their daughter, Catherine, would be a champion golfer and president of the Golf Club.

In 1933, René founded La Chemise Lacoste alongside business partner André Gillier, who was the owner of France’s largest knitwear manufacturing company of that time.

Rene once said “Without elegance, playing and winning are not enough.” and it was this ethos that embodied everything he did. Rene was a visionary and liked to think outside of the box with his innovative ideas.

A prime example was the creation of the revolutionary polo shirt. The shirt was short sleeved and made of a breathable fabric which allowed an increased freedom of movement whilst playing tennis and something that Rene had worn himself whilst playing. By this time the French tennis fans had re-named him from The Alligator to The Crocodile because of his tenacity on the tennis court and so the company’s crocodile logo was embroidered onto the chest of the polo shirt, something which the company claims to be first example of a brand name being visible on an article of clothing.

A collaboration between sport and fashion

The company still has ties to the international tennis world with contracts being signed by American tennis players Andy Roddick and John Isner, Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Swiss Olympic gold medallist, Stanislas Wawrinka.

The company also branched out to reach the golf world with two time Masters champion, Jose Maria Olazabal and Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie who have been been spotted wearing the brand’s shirts whilst playing in tournaments.

The famous polo shirt from the 1930’s was later adopted by English casual wearers and then the American preppies in the 1980’s. By the 1990’s people from French rappers to Japanese ice skaters were wearing it. A pleated skirt which gave freedom of movement was also created. This wide range of styles shows how much of an impact the brand has had across the world where so many people have come together and made Lacoste clothing their own, just as Rene had always envisaged.

A family business

In 1964 Rene handed the reins over to his son, Bernard who took the position of head of the company. At the time when Bernard took over the company was producing around 300,000 items of clothing each year, by 2005 they were producing almost 50 million across 110 countries.

Sadly, in early 2005, Bernard became seriously ill, therefore he transferred the presidency of Lacoste over to his younger brother who had been the company’s closest collaborator for a long time, Michel. Just six months later on 21 March 2006 Bernard died, in Paris.

The Lacoste Foundation

The Foundation was created and launched in 2006 with the support of Foundation de France with the aim of helping under privileged young people, and those with disabilities with social and professional integration. It works all over the world in partnership with local charities to provide:

Financial support to help develop sports and education programmes.
Moral support by sharing good practices between partner charities.
Skills mentoring which encourages young people to find fulfilment.

The brand through the years

In 2000 after a partnership with Izod Clothing came to an end, French fashion designer Christophe Lamaire came on board and worked to create a more modern, upscale look which helped to increase the brand’s popularity. The company began to regain control over its brand name and logo.

In an ever changing world of technology, the company introduced their online, e-commerce site for the US market in June 2007.

In November 2012 the company was bought by the Swiss family Maus Freres.

In 2019 Lacoste had 8,500 employees, 32 online stores, 1,100 stores across 98 countries and 15,000 sales outlet stores.

Website: www.lacoste.com Founder: René Lacoste, André Gillier Founded: 1933 Headquarters: Troyes, France