December Brand Highlight: Lacoste

Lacoste is a brand we all know. We’ve been brought up with it; having a store in most towns and seeing the infamous logo branded on chests of celebrities throughout the years.

Whilst Lacoste in an incredibly famous brand, how many of us actually know it’s history, who started it, how it’s grown and what led it to the place it is now? We love to do our research on all of our designer vintage clothing brands and Lacoste’s story is one we’d love to share with you. 

Beginnings

As the name implies, Lacoste is a French clothing company that was founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste and André Gillier. 

In 1933, René Lacoste founded what was at the time ‘La Chemise Lacoste’ and partnered up with André Gillier who was the owner and president of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm. Together, they produced the first revolutionary tennis shirt designed by Lacoste and had it worn on the tennis courts with the distinctive crocodile logo proudly embroidered on the chest. 

The Brand

The brand has gone through many stages since its early beginnings. The values of the brand echo that of Lacoste’s own personality who was nicknamed ‘the crocodile’ by fans due to his tenacity on the tennis course. 

Lacoste claims to be the first ever clothing brand to have had the logo of the company on the outside of an article of clothing, although this has been disputed by competitors and is still something we cannot say for certain. However, another unique trait is that it was unusual during this era for sports personnel to create clothing and due to Lacoste’s popularity and success as a tennis player, this made the brand all the more reputable and popular.  

The brand was passed onto René’s son, Bernard Lacoste who unfortunately fell seriously ill in early 2005 and was forced to hand the presidency of the brand over to his younger brother, Michel Lacoste and then passed away in Paris in 2006. Before this in the early 50s, Bernard had teamed up with David Crystal who owned Izod and they created the Izod Lacoste clothing brand. This was super popular with teenagers who began to call the shirts just ‘Izod’ rather than Lacoste. Whilst this became a very profitable brand, the Izod side of the company fell into huge amounts of debt and Crystal sold his half of Lacoste back to the French, leaving Lacoste as a lone brand once more.

Evolvement

In November 2012, Lacoste was bought outright by a Swiss family-held group called Maus Frères who still owns it to this day. However, before this in 2005, almost 50 million Lacoste products sold in over 110 countries around the world. This has been partially attributed to the clever contracts the and pairings the brand has made with young tennis players such as John Isner and Andy Roddick, as well as Richard Gasquet and the Swiss Olympic gold medalist Stanislas Wawrinka - who show off the product in the flesh as well as online.

Similarly, Lacoste has also begun to break into the golf world, staying loyal to their sporting roots but still reaching out into new realms. That famous little crocodile has been seen during golf tournaments on José María Olazabal and Colin Montgomorie.

Today

So, today, Lacoste sells clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods, watches, eyewear and of course, their still famous polo shirts; now, it even sells sheeting and towels.

In recent years, Lacoste’s popularity has taken a great leap thanks to the French designer, Christophe Lemiare who strives to create a more modern, upscale look to the brand. Lemaire was hired as Lacoste’s fashion designer in 2000 and was able to bring the brand back to its original state after adjustments had been made to the brand over the years. They took back any lost control of the brand name and logo and returned to the elite status it held before its brand management crisis in around 1990. 

Check out all of our Lacoste vintage clothing range and see the brand's evolution for yourself!