Brand Story: Lacoste

If you hit your sartorial zenith in the 1980s and fancied yourself an emerging yuppy (not looking at anyone…) you may have found yourself unnaturally drawn to wearing a tiny fabric crocodile close to your cœur*.

The French leisure marque* Lacoste pre-dates this most bewildering decade and its history is as long as its present-day product line is wide.

But what really is the story with that tiny green reptile?

From the Lactose.fr website comes this explanation:

“Boston, 1923, le jeune prodige du tennis René Lacoste a 19 ans et il aime les challenges. Son capitaine d’équipe le sait. Il lui promet la belle valise en cuir de crocodile qu’il admire en vitrine s’il remporte le match difficile à venir. René Lacoste n’a pas gagné le match mais il avait la ténacité du crocodile sur le court, c’est pourquoi il a été surnommé ainsi par un journaliste américain.”

“Boston, 1923, the young tennis prodigy René Lacoste is 19 years old and loves a challenge. His team captain knows it. He promises to buy him the beautiful crocodile-leather suitcase he admires in a shop window if he wins the tough match he has coming up. René Lacoste didn’t win the match but he had the tenacity of a crocodile on the court, which is why he was so-nicknamed by an American journalist.”

Intéressé(e)*? Read more here in French (plus see some great past advertisements).

Feeling a bit paresseux(euse)* maybe? Here’s the English version.

*heart | *brand | *interested | *lazy