The history of Lacoste brand began as early as 1933. It was then that La Chemise Lacoste company was founded. René Lacoste who was a famous tennis player decided to open his own company to produce tennis, golf and sailing garments together with Andre Gillier who was at that time the head of a full-fashioning mill. The cooperation turned out to be extremely successful. The first Lacoste tennis shirt made a splash in the sportswear fashion industry due to its white color and short sleeves. Moreover, the logo was embroidered on the face side of the shirt.
By the way, the history of the logo itself is very interesting. All Lacoste items are imprinted with the logo of the company that depicts a nice crocodile. Why crocodile of all the other possible variants? Because ‘crocodile’ was a nickname of René Lacoste that was given to him by American journalists. Actually, René earned this nickname in 1923 for his bet with a French captain that he would become a winner and would receive the top prize at Davis Cup. The captain promised to buy René an expensive crocodile suitcase in case of his victory. And René Lacoste did it – he won the tournament!
It was René Lacoste who was the first to devise a metal tennis racket that took the place of the wooden one straight away. A lot of famous sportsmen considered this racket to be the best one – they even said that it could run circles around any other racket. And they were right!
In the year 1963 the management of Lacoste company was passed into the hands of Bernard Lacoste who was Rene’s son. It was then that the company began to produce different styles of shorts, footwear, perfume, clocks, as well as various high quality leather goods. The company production needed no advertising as track records of the members of Lacoste family were more than enough. For example, in 1969 Catherine Lacoste, René Lacoste’s daughter, won the U.S. Ladies Golf Open. Nowadays spectacular Lacoste items especially footwear are sold like hot cakes.
At the end of 2008 Lacoste brand celebrated 75th anniversary of the crocodile logo. This cute crocodile is as old as the time, though looks pretty young! =)
