Lacoste

The origins of Lacoste

Lacoste is a French company that dates back to 1927, when its founder, tennis player Rene Lacoste, invented the polo shirt for himself. A little earlier, in 1926, when playing at the US Open, the Frenchman stood out on court in a short-sleeved white shirt that was completely different from the norm at the time. It is the polo shirts that remain to this day an absolute classic and the brand's flagship product. In 2012, Lacoste was acquired by the Swiss Maus Freres group.

Lacoste logo – the alligator

Lacoste's attribute was an alligator-skin briefcase, causing the American press to quickly nickname the tennis player 'the Alligator'. The name appealed very much to the man himself, who asked his friend to design a logo featuring a crocodile. This logo was then embroidered on T-shirts. In 1933, mass production of the shirts began and the image of the crocodile became the official logo of the company. The distinctive crocodile is now one of the most popular logos in the world and can be found on all Lacoste products.

Lacoste ambassadors

The Lacoste brand is enormously associated with tennis. Many male and female tennis players perform or have performed in clothing with the crocodile logo. The most famous of these are:

• Novak Djoković
• Daniił Miedwiediew
• Roberto Bautista-Agut
• Dominika Cibulková
• Pablo Cuevas
• Benoît Paire
• Pierre-Hugues Herbert
• Nicolas Mahut
• Hyeon Chung
• Christina McHale
• Jérémy Chardy
• Guillermo García-López
• Denis Kudla