Lacoste

Lacoste was founded in 1933 in Paris by tennis champion René Lacoste and his business partner André Gillier, who together developed the L.12.12 tennis shirt — the first cotton-pique short-sleeve polo shirt with a hand-embroidered crocodile logo on the chest. Lacoste, who had been nicknamed 'the Crocodile' by the American press for his tenacious play in winning seven Grand Slam singles titles between 1925 and 1929, retired from professional tennis in 1929 and channeled his attention into developing breathable, easy-fitting performance shirts that had not previously existed in the men's clothing market. The Lacoste vocabulary settled around the L.12.12 cotton-pique polo as the brand's defining product, with seasonal expansions into tennis shorts, sweatshirts, leather sneakers (the iconic Lacoste Carnaby Evo), and a wide range of accessories. Lacoste has had a series of creative directors over the decades, with the recent contemporary identity shaped by Felipe Oliveira Baptista (2010-2018) and Louise Trotter (2018-2023), and Pelagia Kolotouros named creative director in 2023. The brand has done long-running collaborations with Supreme, Off-White, Polaroid, and the Goldfinger James Bond film series. Lacoste is owned by Maus Frères International (the Swiss holding company that acquired Lacoste's holding company Sporloisirs in 2012). The brand operates approximately 1,200 retail stores globally including flagship locations in Paris (Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Faubourg Saint-Honoré), London (Regent Street), New York (Fifth Avenue), Tokyo (Ginza, Aoyama), Seoul, Shanghai, plus extensive wholesale through major department stores worldwide. The Lacoste polo crocodile-logo is widely considered one of the earliest and most-recognised brand logos in fashion history.