LACOSTE: The Polo Born from Tennis and the Journey into Fragrance

An inventor! If I were to put a profession on my business card, that is what I would have engraved.
René Lacoste

LACOSTE is a brand founded in France in 1933. Known for its crocodile logo and polo shirts, it originated in the improvements that tennis player René Lacoste devised for his sport.

Its fragrance history began in 1968. In time, the knitted texture of the polo shirt and the steel racket René invented also became subjects for bottle design. It is a brand whose clothes and equipment provide a starting point for understanding its scents.

Basic Information
The Founders and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Commitments
1. Bottle Design Reflecting the Polo’s Knit and the Steel Racket
2. Expressing “Movement” Through Citrus and Spice
By the Way…
References

Basic Information

Year founded: 1933
Founders: René Lacoste and André Gillier
Country of origin: France
Fragrance debut: 1968
Official website: LACOSTE

The Founders and the Brand’s Origins

René Lacoste: A Tennis Player Who Studied His Opponents

René was born in Paris in 1904. He began playing tennis at 15 and decided to devote himself to the sport at 18. Rather than overpowering opponents through sheer force, he read the match and devised his tactics. He recorded his opponents’ characteristics in a notebook, varying the speed and depth of his shots to disrupt the patterns they favored.

He also examined his own movements and kept detailed records of his technique. This accumulated work led to his 1928 book Tennis. His habit of observing practice and matches and making repeated improvements extended to equipment. He shaved down his racket handle to make it easier to grip and wrapped it in medical tape. In 1927, he invented a machine that delivered balls with consistent force so that he could practice alone.

He won seven Grand Slam singles titles and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1927 and 1928. One of the “Four Musketeers” of French tennis, René was also a player who quietly continued his research and practice.

How the Crocodile Nickname Became a Brand Logo

In 1923, the French team captain promised René that, if he won a match, he would give him a crocodile-skin suitcase René admired. René lost, but the story, together with his tenacity on court, led an American journalist to call him “the Crocodile.”

A crocodile drawn by his friend Robert George was embroidered onto René’s blazer. Before it became a brand emblem, it represented one player’s nickname.

A Polo Shirt Designed for Movement and the Brand’s Founding in 1933

In the 1920s, long-sleeved shirts and belted trousers were standard tennis attire. René shortened his shirt sleeves and had a white jersey shirt made for the hot American courts. Short sleeves and a shape that followed the body might have been difficult for tournament organizers attached to dress conventions to accept, but they were meaningful changes for a player in motion.

After retiring from competitive play for health reasons in 1929, René founded the brand with André Gillier in 1933. At its center was a light, supple polo shirt made from petit piqué. Petit piqué is a knitted fabric with a finely textured surface. The familiar crocodile was added to a garment designed for breathability and ease of movement.

René’s understanding of elegance was also inseparable from the occasion on which clothing was worn. In 1983, he expressed its condition in these terms.

Elegance is, first of all, a matter of clothing being appropriate to the place and the circumstances.
René Lacoste, on elegance, 1983

Short sleeves and a lightweight knit were not choices made solely to change appearances. The form was determined by its purpose: moving the body. Lacoste’s polo reflects a player’s thinking from the perspective of the person wearing the clothes.

From the Invention of the Steel Racket to Fragrance in 1968

René continued inventing after establishing the brand. He obtained patents for a device to dampen racket-string vibration in 1960 and for a steel racket in 1963. Over his lifetime, he filed more than 30 patents. Not only clothing but also the weight and ease of handling of equipment were subjects for improvement.

Lacoste released its first eau de toilette in 1968. It was manufactured under license by the Jean Patou company and composed by Jean Kerléo (in Japanese). The brand’s expression expanded from clothing to scent.

Lacoste Original appeared in 1984. In 2011, L.12.12, a men’s fragrance collection based on the polo shirt, followed. The new Original Eau de Parfum in 2024 was created as a different fragrance while paying subtle homage to the 1984 work of the same name. Two strands have developed: translating the form of the polo into perfume, and reinterpreting names from the past.

The Brand’s Commitments

Bottle Design Reflecting the Polo’s Knit and the Steel Racket

The name L.12.12 inherits the product code of the 1933 polo. “L” stands for Lacoste, “1” for the petit piqué material, “2” for short sleeves, and “12” for the number of the final prototype. The fragrance name preserves the code used when the garment was created.

The first collection in 2011 began with three fragrances, in white, blue, and green, and the bottles featured fabric crocodiles. The relationship with the polo was expressed not only in the name but also in the container held in the hand.

For L.12.12 Silver Grey in 2025, the bottle retained the surface pattern recalling petit piqué and the embroidered crocodile, but received a silver finish. That color was inspired by the steel racket René invented. The bottle brings together two of his innovations: the polo and the racket.

The scent combines the aromatic qualities of lavender and geranium with the freshness of mandarin and a nuance of incense. Despite its silver exterior, its fragrance composition centers on aromatic plants and citrus.

Expressing “Movement” Through Citrus and Spice

The perfumers behind Original Eau de Parfum in 2024 were Anne Flipo (in Japanese) and Tanguy Guesnet. Anne sees Lacoste as a brand in which timeless freshness coexists with a passion for creativity.

What the two sought to express through scent was movement. Tanguy described specifically the relationship between the citrus and spices chosen for that purpose.

Anne and I worked with a combination of citrus freshness and fiery spices to convey movement in this perfume.
Tanguy Guesnet, on the creation of Lacoste Original

Bergamot is combined with cardamom and pink pepper, adding the stimulation of spice to the vividness of citrus. The aromatic qualities of lavender and clary sage follow, along with the warmth of sandalwood and amber. Rather than ending at freshness, the composition layers in a background of aromatic herbs and woods.

The polo’s knit and the racket’s silver color remain in the perfume as physical forms. Meanwhile, the freedom of a moving body is something the citrus-and-spice combination attempts to express. Lacoste’s fragrance-making involves concrete choices about what to draw from the brand’s past and how to translate it into form and scent.

By the Way…

Tennis was not the only sport in René’s family. His wife, Simone Thion de La Chaume, won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 1927. Their daughter Catherine also won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1967 as an amateur. Mother and daughter left major marks on golf as well.