For Lacoste, which transforms sportswear into a lifestyle, elegance goes beyond style. It is embedded in the brand Dna as a way of being, living and behaving shaped by the search for meaning.
At the age of 18, René Lacoste was living with his family in Bordeaux and was a gifted student at a technical school typical of France in 1923. Like his father, he was passionate about sports and playing tennis took up most of his time. This passion eventually led him to leave his studies to make his own way. Match after match, René Lacoste soon became one of the best tennis players in the world, lifting the championship trophy 7 times at the most prestigious Grand Slam tournaments such as the French Open and Wimbledon.
During the US Open in 1923, René Lacoste’s coach promised him that if he won his next match, he would buy him the crocodile suitcase he admired in the shop window. Although René, only 18 years old, lost the match, his on-court performance and determination captured the hearts of tennis fans and the American sports press. The giant headlines with the nickname ‘The Crocodile’, dedicated to René, was his coach’s greatest gift to him. The nickname was quickly adopted by the tennis world. René, a determined and talented tennis player, embraced his gift with all his being. He even asked his friend and tailor Robert George to sew an image of a crocodile on the white jackets he wore on the court, and the Crocodile legend truly began.
Lacoste Becomes One with ‘Crocodile’
At the end of 10 years of success in the tennis world under the nickname “Crocodile”, René Lacoste created the first tennis shirt of his own design, which he introduced to sportswear fashion as a polo shirt. He founded La Société Chemise Lacoste with André Gillier in 1933 to produce this design. The introduction of the first polo shirts with a logo on the clothes for the first time in the world vitalized to Lacoste, today’s leading brand in premium sportswear and accessories. René, who died in 1996 at the age of 92, was not only a world champion tennis player, but also a businessperson with the vision to shape the future of the fashion industry.
Sportswear Transformed a Lifestyle
With the export of Lacoste clothing all over the world in the 1950s and the development of the first children’s collections, the brand experienced its first major change and gave the first strong signal that it would become an icon uniting generations. In 1968, the most intense year of the Hippie movement, which influenced almost the whole world at the end of the 1960s and changed the view of life of all the young people of the period, the brand made another big debut and presented its first perfume. This first Lacoste perfume, which captivated almost every libertarian youth of the period with its worldwide launch, was produced in collaboration with French fashion designer and perfume expert Jean Patou. Continuing to channel his passion for tennis into the development of his brand, René Lacoste became the official sponsor of the French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, in 1971. Since then, the Lacoste brand has never lost its leadership in preserving the spirit of tennis, its athletes and tournaments on a global scale.
Transforming sportswear into a lifestyle, Lacoste continued to develop new accessory collections and in 1978, in collaboration with designer Cahours de Virgile, presented its first eyewear collection. Less than three years later, the brand launched its first leather goods collections in partnership with designers who continue the French leather tradition. These collections included iconic and timeless pieces that made the Crocodile giant, such as belts designed with Maison Hamon and suitcases designed with Sogedi. With René’s confidence in collaborations with experts, who have high quality, the brand continued to grow rapidly, partnering with Pentland, a British shoe manufacturer founded in 1932, to launch its first collection of casual sneakers in 1991. This amazing collaboration was followed by the presentation of its first watch collection in 1994 at the world-famous Swiss-based Basel Watch Fair. This first launch of Lacoste watches, one of today’s indispensable fashion accessories, not only accelerated the spread of the brand spirit of sporty elegance around the world, but also made the Crocodile indispensable on the wrist.
Crocodile Heritage: Lacoste Foundation
During World War II, René Lacoste commissioned a group of workers to plant 40,000 trees to cover the family golf club in Chantaco. Not only did this monumental effort, despite the war, prevent him and his family from being sent to forced labor in Germany, but René’s kindness in allowing French military cadets to train on the same golf course inspired a generation of champions on the course, including such greats as Jean Garaïalde and Bernard Pascassio, who pioneered the development of French golf. He helped some of the young soldiers preparing for war to fulfill their sporting potential. Throughout his life, he helped young people self-actualizes in sport or any other field. Ten years after René Lacoste’s death in 1996, Lacoste Foundation was established with the support of the France Foundation. Since 2006, the internationally active Lacoste Foundation, following in the footsteps of René Lacoste, has been making equal opportunities a reality for young people to unlock their potential and improve the living conditions of local communities in 98 countries.
Preserving Lacoste’s Tenacity and Passion
In 2012, Lacoste was acquired by Maus Frères SA, a family business founded in Geneva in 1902. Driven by a deep respect for René Lacoste and a strong sense of loyalty to the brand, Maus Frères continues the esteemed Lacoste heritage under the leadership of CEO Thierry Guibert with the same optimism, passion, elegance and tenacity. In 2023, Lacoste redefined the categories of polo shirts with powerful communication campaigns, whether through tennis legends such as Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Venus Williams or brand ambassadors such as French actor KJ Apa, to mark the 90th anniversary of René’s taboo-breaking innovation of cutting off the sleeves of a long-sleeved tennis shirt that made movement difficult at the time. This segmentation was launched with 5 polo shirt stories: L.12.12, Paris Polo, Movement Polo, Tennis Polo and Golf Polo. In L.12.12 Polo, L stands for Lacoste, 1 for the famous petit piqué fabric, 2 for the two short sleeves and 12 for the number of prototypes offered. The first of these special stories, L.12.12 Polo, honoring the Founder, was written on the first Crocodile logo polo shirt, which is one of the important proofs that the reputation of the brand, which is approaching its 100th anniversary, will be strengthened and protected by CEO Thierry Guibert and his team.
Lacoste Eyewear
After adding eyewear in 1978, Lacoste soon established a strong and visible presence in optical fashion with its premium materials, clean lines and eyewear designs that blend tradition and modernity. In 2010, Lacoste signed a global licensing agreement with Marchon, one of the giants of the optical industry, to create such a strong and visible presence in the optical and sunglass collections. In 2011, the first collection of the strong collaboration was presented to the public. The Marchon and Lacoste collaboration has continued to evolve each year with eyewear collections that reflect the sophistication and sporty elegance of the brand. In 2018, Marchon and Lacoste developed a strategy in line with the digital age and presented the Lacoste Eyewear Paris collection with a campaign called Digital Dust. This multifaceted campaign, involving social media influencers aligned with product and brand values, became one of the most important milestones in Lacoste Eyewear’s history. Immediately after the renewal of the Marchon and Lacoste global license agreement in 2021, the launch of the special eyewear designed with the world’s number one tennis player Novak Djokovic, with whom Lacoste has a strong bond, and the launch of a special eyewear collection honoring the 2021 Roland-Garros, revealed that the legend of the Crocodile will live on for many more years with its Eyewear as well.
Chronology
1933
René Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste with André Gillier.
1950
France-based Lacoste started to be exported abroad for the first time. Lacoste presented its first children’s clothing collection.
1968
Lacoste presented its first perfume.
1971
Lacoste becomes the official sponsor of the Roland-Garros Glam Slam Tournament, also called the French Open.
1978
Lacoste presented its first eyewear collection.
1981
Lacoste launches its first collection of leather goods.
1991
Lacoste presented its first collection of casual sneakers.
1994
Lacoste exhibits its first watch collection at the Basel Watch Fair.
2000
Christophe Lemaire is the new fashion designer of Lacoste.
2012
Lacoste is acquired by Maus Frères, a family-owned company based in Switzerland.
2017
World No. 1 and one of the most respected players in tennis history, Novak Djokovic has become a brand ambassador for Lacoste.
2018
British designer Louise Trotter has been appointed Creative Director of Lacoste. With her talent for defining elegant silhouettes, Louise breathes new life into Lacoste collections with her visionary approach.
2019
Young tennis prodigy Daniil Medvedev has been named Lacoste brand ambassador, becoming one of the brand’s special crocodiles.
2023
Lacoste, the pioneer of sporty fashion, celebrated its 90th anniversary.
2024
Thirty-four-year-old French actor, director, producer and screenwriter Pierre Niney has joined the family of Lacoste ambassadors. In January 2024, Lacoste launched the L. 12. 12 Trim line in collaboration with Marchon, a tribute to the L. 12. 12 polo shirts, consisting of two sunglasses and one optical model. Tennis champion Venus Williams introduces women’s sunglasses in Lacoste’s Fall/Winter 2024 advertising campaign. Up-and-coming French tennis player Arthur Fils, one of Lacoste’s brand ambassadors from the 2023 season, presented men’s optical and sunglasses in the brand’s Fall/Winter 2024 advertising campaign.
January 2025
