A History of Lacoste and Lacoste
Watches
René Lacoste was a famous French tennis player.
While winning the 1926 U.S. Open championship, Rene Lacoste of France
wore something that he himself had created: a white, short-sleeve shirt made
exclusively of a light knitted fabric called ‘jersey petit piqué’ that served
to wick away moisture due to heat, the very first version of performance
clothing in sports. In 1927 during the Davis Cup,
the American press nicknamed Lacoste "the Alligator" because of a bet
made about an alligator-skin suitcase. With no cognate in his native tongue,
the nickname was changed to le crocodile in French. The nickname stuck
due to his tenacious behavior on the courts, never giving up his prey.
Lacoste’s friend, Robert Geore, drew him a crocodile which Lacoste then
embroidered on the blazer he wore on the courts.
After retiring from tennis, Lacoste founded La Societe
Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier,
the owner and President of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at
the time. They began to produce the revolutionary tennis shirt Lacoste had
designed and worn on the tennis courts with the crocodile appliqué embroidered
on the chest, serving as the first example of a brand name appearing on the
outside of an article of clothing. In addition to Lacoste tennis shirts,
Lacoste produced shirts for golf and sailing. The Lacoste brand reached its
height of popularity in the US
during the 1970s when the tennis shirt became an essential of the preppy
wardrobe, the company also began to introduce other products into their line
including Lacoste watches.
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