Lacoste
447 N Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 385-0655
Monday to Saturday 10-6
Sunday 11-6
*** CLOSED ***
Lacoste is a French apparel company founded in 1933 that sells high-end clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods, watches, eyewear, and most famously, tennis shirts. The company can be recognized by its green crocodile logo. Lacoste has the reputation of being culturally preppy, especially in some countries like the United States or Spain.
René Lacoste was a famous French tennis player who achieved fame in two areas: tennis and fashion. While winning the 1927 U.S. Open championship, Rene Lacoste of France wore something that he himself had created: a white, short-sleeve shirt made exclusively of a light knitted fabric called ‘jersey petit piqué’ that served to wick away moisture due to heat, the very first version of performance clothing in sports. The shirt was a radical departure from tennis fashion of the day, which called for stiff, woven, long-sleeve oxfords. In 1923 during the Davis Cup, the American press nicknamed Lacoste “the Alligator” because of a bet made about an alligator-skin suitcase. With no cognate in his native tongue, the nickname was changed to le crocodile in French. The nickname stuck due to his tenacious behavior on the courts, never giving up his prey. Lacoste’s friend, Robert George, drew him a crocodile which Lacoste then embroidered on the blazer he wore on the courts.