During a mad year or so in the early 1980s, I got caught up in the ‘label slave’ nonsense as part of the ‘casual’ subculture. For many back then, sportswear was King. Fila, Diadora, Ellesse and the like became the brands of choice for those on the street catwalk of football terraces and council estates.
The one brand I coveted most was Lacoste. The sight of a crisp polo shirt with a green crocodile on the left breast was one of desire.. To my ‘mod’ inspired eyes it was close enough to that other staple of my wardrobe then, namely the Fred Perry polo top, to fit in with the lifestyle I was trying to adopt back then. Maybe even up the game a touch?
The shop of choice for items like this was Whitehall Clothiers on Camberwell Road and I’d go in there on a regular basis to take a closer look at the racks of various coloured shirts they had on display. I finally found some spare money and picked up a burgundy number that became my pride and joy. I remember the price being £35, which was a fortune to me then. Never mind that though, I had to have one.
Thinking back to then, I don’t think I knew then that ‘Lacoste’ was actually named after an actual human, and a tennis champion human at that.
The man himself was a very interesting character. Born in 1904 in Paris, Jean Rene Lacoste took up tennis at the relatively late age of 15 on a visit to London with his businessman father.
Rene as he became was actually all set for an engineering career, when he decided to give tennis a go as a profession, after discovering that he was somewhat of a ‘natural’ at the game. His instincts proved correct. Within three years he was among the finest players in the world. He rose to number one in the rankings and won ten major titles within seven years.
A master of the baseline, he was nicknamed ‘the crocodile’ after winning a bet, and subsequently a prize of a suitcase made of croc or alligator skin, from his Davis Cup team captain. Not long after, embroidery of a crocodile was added to his sporting blazer and the name stuck.
Playing wise, he won the French Open and Wimbledon in 1925, followed by two US open titles in 1926 and 27 and he won again at Wimbledon in 1928. He along with fellow French players Brugnon, Borota and Cochet, were dubbed the ‘Four Musketeer’s’ as they dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The French team won the Davis Cup for six consecutive years.
The game of tennis had moved away from a social past time to a more serious sport in these years. Lacoste was known to be always methodical in nature, and approached the game in a more scientific nature, making extensive notes on past matches and future opponents.
Even though tennis became his life, his passion for engineering never waivered and meant that he was often coming up with inventions and ideas that would help with his game. He created the world’s first automatic tennis ball machine, which delivered balls to him during practice (he also came up with the first metal racket later in the 1960s.)‘Inventor should be on my business cards. I’ve been inventing all my life!’
Aged just 25, he was forced to retire from tennis in 1929, due to a variety of health problems, but whilst still playing, he had broke with tradition by playing in short sleeved knitted shirts, instead if the more formal long sleeve look.
Asked many times where the shirts were available, and now retired, Lacoste formed the company La Societe Chemise Lacoste in 1933. His trademark, the crocodile, was stitched over the area of the left breast of the shirts.
In reality, this was no more than a hobby at first and sales ticked along, and when his son Bernard took over the company in the mid 60s, he began selling worldwide and licensed the brand in the US to the company Izod. Sales steadily grew and by the 1980s, things had changed. Demand for the brand became enormous, especially in the SE5 area. Lacoste was now a multi million dollar company.
Rene left us in 1996 but with the brand seemingly as popular as ever, it is fitting that his name and legacy live on
The Mumper of SE5
