Lacoste

Lacoste is a world famous brand, introduced for the first time in 1926 by tennis player René Lacoste. Until 2012, the control over the main stake in the company belonged to the Lacoste family, but at the end of the year, Michel and Sophie Lacoste agreed with Maus Frères to sell their last shares.

History

René Lacoste founded La 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 logo embroidered on the chest. The company claims this as the first example of a brand name appearing on the outside of an article of clothing. Starting in the 1950s, Izod produced clothing known as Izod Lacoste under license for sale in the U.S. This partnership ended in 1993 when Lacoste regained exclusive U.S. rights to distribute shirts under its own brand. In 1977, Le Tigre Clothing was founded in an attempt to directly compete with Lacoste in the US market, selling a similar array of clothing, but featuring a tiger in place of the signature Lacoste crocodile.

More recently, Lacoste's popularity has surged due to French designer Christophe Lemaire's work to create a more modern, upscale look.[citation needed] In 2005, almost 50 million Lacoste products sold in over 110 countries. Its visibility has increased due to the contracts between Lacoste and several tennis players, including former American tennis players Andy Roddick and John Isner, French veteran Richard Gasquet, and Swiss Olympic gold medalist Stanislas Wawrinka. Lacoste had also begun to increase its presence in the golf world, where noted two time Masters Tournament champion José María Olazábal and Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie have been seen sporting Lacoste shirts in tournaments.

Bernard Lacoste became seriously ill in early 2005, which led him to transfer the presidency of Lacoste to his younger brother and closest collaborator for many years, Michel Lacoste. Bernard died in Paris on 21 March 2006.

Lacoste licenses its trademark to various companies. Until recently, Devanlay owned the exclusive worldwide clothing license, though today Lacoste Polo Shirts are also manufactured under licence in Thailand by ICC and also in China. Pentland Group has the exclusive worldwide license to produce Lacoste footwear, Coty Inc. owns the exclusive worldwide license to produce fragrance, and CEMALAC holds the license to produce Lacoste bags and small leather goods.[citation needed]

In June 2007, Lacoste introduced their e-commerce site for the U.S. market.

In 2009, Hayden Christensen became the face of the Challenge fragrance for men.

In September 2010, Christophe Lemaire stepped down and Felipe Oliveira Baptista succeeded him as the creative manager of Lacoste.

René Lacoste Foundation is a community program developed to help children be able to play sports in school.

In March 2016, the company opened a new flagship store on Fashion Street in Budapest.

In 2017, tennis player Novak Djokovic was named brand ambassador and "the new crocodile" (next to Rene Lacoste) for Lacoste. This obligation includes a five-year contract as well as multiple appearances in advertising campaigns.

In September 2019, Lacoste appointed Chinese singer / actor Z.Tao as their brand spokesperson for Asia Pacific as the brand's first attempt of appointing someone for the region.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Lacoste collaborated with Supreme to release a collection of co-branded clothing.