The winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles at the French, American, and British
championships, a member of the Davis Cup-winning French team in 1927 and 1928, and the world’s top seeded player in
1926 and 1927, Lacoste was one of the most famous sportsmen of his era. He was also one of the first to capitalise
on his renown by launching a signature line of clothing. At a time when most tennis players competed wearing a
standard long-sleeved shirt (and a tie), Lacoste had shocked more conservative observers by wearing a shirt of his
own creation — soft and breathable, with short sleeves, it improved his freedom of movement and performance on the
court.
In the early ’30s, as he eased into retirement, Lacoste was approached by André
Gillier, owner of France’s leading knitwear manufacturer, who proposed that the two partner to sell reproductions of
this groundbreaking garment. In 1933, La Chemise Lacoste was founded, adopting as its logo the crocodile — a
nickname Lacoste had picked up thanks to winning a bet with another player (the prize being a lavish croc-hide
suitcase) and due to his snappy tenacity in competition. Placing the reptilian motif prominently on the shirt’s left
breast, Lacoste became one of the first brands, perhapsthefirst brand, to emblazon a label on the outside of a garment.
While this partnership wasn’t the first to commercialise the knitted polo shirt, with
the likes of John Smedley helping to advance the technology, Lacoste’s tennis shirt was immensely popular in Europe
and beyond, quickly becoming a potent symbol of sporty, leisure-class élan. American preppies were enthusiastic
adopters, and from the 1950s, Lacoste tennis shirts were produced and sold under license in the United States by the
manufacturer Izod. Initially cut in piqué cotton as per the French originals, when synthetic cloth became popular
toward the end of the 1960s, Izod began making its Lacoste shorts from polyester.
This space-age fabric, a sales assistant explained to one repeat customer at a New
York department store, wouldn’t fade or gain a patina of wear. The problem was, that particular customer — a young
designer named Ralph Lauren, who in 1967 had
launched a clothing brand he called Polo —lovedthe way the old cotton Izod Lacoste shirts aged. “I like things that are worn,” Lauren
explained in his self-titled 2011 coffee-table monograph, published by Rizzoli. “I have old plaid and denim shirts
full of holes and tears. They’ve been patched and mended, they’re falling apart, but I’m not throwing them away.
Every time I wear one, I love the way it feels. It’s like an old pick-up truck that’s stood by you,” he
remarked.
So it was that, knowing they could do better, Lauren and his team set out to create
the Platonic ideal of a piqué knit shirt. Launched in 1972, and marketed early on with the slogan “It gets better
with age,” the Ralph Lauren ‘mesh’ shirt — available in a rainbow of colours, carrying the iconic pony logo on its
chest — has been the brand’s most popular product for nearly five decades.
Virtually every menswear brand now makes its own version, bearing all manner of
embroidered critters and motifs. In the last few years, a few artisanal brands have given it a sartorial spin,
adding the kind of flair usually reserved for fine shirting and tailoring. Naples-based Luca Avitabile has elevated the classic polo collar, designing one-piece and
cutaway versions, while Puglia-based Naked Clothing experiments with enzyme and stone
washes to create weathered effects. While it’s inarguably Polo Ralph Lauren’s iteration that owns ‘polo shirt’ in
popular imagination today, these brands have helped to elevate the piece beyond its sporty roots.
