The little green crocodile is probably one of the most immediately recognisable fashion symbols in the world today, known for decorating Lacoste’s polo shirts and caps. However, of late it’s also been carving out a more graceful but still sporty image in its fragrances: Pour Femme, for instance, comes in a pale yellow box and bottle and combines fruits, flowers and spices to make a winning scent to appeal to all types of young women, whether tomboyish or more girly. It is the perfume market along with its famous tennis shirts that have helped the brand to carve out its reputation.
Born in 1933 of René Lacoste and André Gillier, the Lacoste brand remains loyal to its French roots, with its headquarters in Paris and production taking place in Troyes. The brand continued to grow when René passed the company over to his son Bernard, with Lacoste being mentioned (for better or for worse) in Lisa Birnbach’s 1980 Official Preppy Handbook. In 2005, an astonishing 50 million Lacoste products were sold in 110 countries.
The brand has had a number of famous faces, collaborators and ambassadors either working directly with the brand (such as fashion designer Christophe Lemaire) or representing it (such as tennis player Andy Murray, and actor Hayden Christiensen, helping to further direct the brand back to its high-end origins, and further away from its more recent misappropriation by the chav or white-trash community. Far from being just a tennis brand, it is now more than that to many other sections of society (and not just the golfers). Men, women and children can all shop at Lacoste, with the brand making bags, eyewear, footwear, leather goods, watches and homewares as well as the classic sportswear and fragrances. This universal appeal is supported not only by its many concessions in department stores, but also by its numerous boutiques and (as of 2007) its online shopping facility.