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.

Contents

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. 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 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.

The Fragrance Lineup

Lacoste’s fragrances include two major families: L.12.12, named after the polo shirt’s product code, and Original, which began a new chapter in 2024. Alongside them are fragrances with independent names, including Booster and Pour Femme, introduced in the 1990s and 2000s. Even within the same white bottle design, the eau de toilette and eau de parfum have different compositions, while the name Bleu refers to different fragrances depending on the year of release.

The range below brings together current fragrances and the development of their respective families. Availability varies by country and region; Lacoste’s Japanese fragrance selection provides a separate guide to the local range.

L.12.12: Fragrances in the Colors of the Polo

L.12.12 began in February 2011 with Blanc, Bleu, and Vert. This men’s collection featured bottles recalling white, blue, and green polos, each with the same fabric crocodile used on the clothing. Blanc, meaning white, was one of its starting points. Black, pink, and eventually metallic silver expanded the range of scents and colors.

L.12.12 Blanc Eau de Toilette moves from grapefruit and cardamom to tuberose and ylang-ylang, followed by vetiver and a suede accord. Although inspired by the white polo, its composition is not simply citrus and wood: two flowers occupy its heart.

L.12.12 Noir Eau de Toilette, introduced in 2013 in a black bottle, takes a summer night as its subject. Watermelon and basil lead into lavender and verbena, with a dark-chocolate accord and cashmeran underneath. Where Blanc combines flowers and suede, Noir sets watery fruit and herbs against a darker, sweeter accord.

L.12.12 Blanc Eau de Parfum followed in 2021. It combines finger lime and cardamom with pine, eucalyptus, cedarwood, and balsam fir. The plants used to evoke the white polo change from the tuberose and ylang-ylang of the eau de toilette to conifers and aromatic leaves.

L.12.12 Rose, Eau Fraîche, and Eau Intense

Alongside the men’s color variations, L.12.12 also developed floral, fruity, and confectionery-inspired fragrances. L.12.12 Rose Sparkling Eau de Toilette, part of the line that began with Sparkling in 2015, combines mandarin and apple with macaron and cotton-candy accords and lily of the valley, leading into patchouli and vetiver.

A separate composition, L.12.12 Rose Eau de Parfum, arrived in 2021 as the counterpart to Blanc Eau de Parfum. Green mandarin and mint precede rose and musk, supported by cedarwood and ambrox.

The Blanc and Rose pairing continued with Eau Fraîche in 2022 and Eau Intense in 2023. L.12.12 Blanc Eau Fraîche moves from lemon and ginger to lavandin and apple, then vetiver and cedarwood. It brings a combination of citrus peel and spice to the white-polo family as an eau de toilette.

L.12.12 Rose Eau Fraîche combines grapefruit and blood orange with pink pepper, an ozonic accord, blackcurrant, and cedarwood. The vivid fruit notes are layered with an accord suggesting open air.

Eau Intense emphasizes the contrast between coolness and warmth. Blanc Eau Intense combines mandarin, cardamom, lavandin, and clary sage with a white-leather accord and sandalwood. Rose Eau Intense brings together white tea, Sichuan pepper, rose, and cotton flower with musk and cedarwood. Despite the word Intense in their names, both are eaux de toilette, distinct from the eau de parfum releases.

L.12.12 Silver and Bleu: The Racket and the Navy Polo

L.12.12 Silver Grey, released in 2025, translates the silver of the steel racket discussed above into its bottle. Mandarin and incense meet lavender and geranium. The bottle retains its petit-piqué pattern and crocodile while adding a finish recalling the racket, bringing the histories of clothing and equipment together.

L.12.12 Silver Rose, released the same year, also takes the steel racket as its starting point, adding pink to the silver finish. Grapefruit and pear lead to rose and freesia, supported by cashmeran and musk.

L.12.12 Bleu Eau de Parfum arrived in 2026. Perfumer Yann Vasnier sought to capture the energy of the iconic navy polo, with its combination of elegance and sport. His idea was to contrast the cool brightness of yuzu with the depth of woods.

The composition brings together yuzu and ginger, lavandin and geranium, then cedarwood and vetiver: citrus, aromatic plants, and woods arranged around the navy polo. Although the first trio in 2011 also included a Bleu, this is a new eau de parfum released in 2026.

Original: A New Family Bearing the 1984 Name

Interparfums took over Lacoste’s fragrance business in 2024, and Lacoste Original Eau de Parfum was the two companies’ first new release together. Its name pays homage to Original from 1984, but the fragrance is not a recreation of the earlier scent. Unlike L.12.12 and its polo-knit texture, Original has a square green-and-white bottle and has developed as a separate family.

Anne Flipo and Tanguy Guesnet’s 2024 composition opens with bergamot, cardamom, and pink pepper before moving to lavender and clary sage. Sandalwood, patchouli, amber, and tonka bean form the background. As the perfumers’ comments above explain, the momentum of citrus and spice leads into aromatic herbs and a warm base.

The same two perfumers created Original Parfum in 2025. Cardamom and ginger, lavender and incense, and patchouli and tonka bean retain the lavender and tonka of the 2024 fragrance while exploring resin and spice more deeply.

For Original Aqua in 2026, Marie Salamagne drew on the Mediterranean and the French Riviera. Aromatic clary sage meets a caviar accord with a mineral character, supported by vetiver and ambery woods. The square bottle turns an aquatic blue as the Original family takes a woody-aquatic direction.

Original’s Women’s Fragrances: From Pear to Raspberry and Pomegranate

Original Femme followed the men’s Original fragrances in 2025. Presented in Japan as Original for Her, it was composed by Adriana Medina and Louise Turner.

Pear and mandarin receive a touch of ginger, followed by jasmine, rose, and a sunlit solar accord, then vanilla and amber. The glass is pink, with gold around the label and the cap’s ring. Its colors differ from the green-and-white men’s bottle while retaining Original’s geometric form.

For Original Femme Intense in 2026, Sonia Constant developed the structure of the 2025 fragrance in a more gourmand direction. The fruit becomes raspberry and a milky pomegranate accord, the flowers are jasmine and rose, and the base combines vanilla and tonka bean.

Booster, Pour Femme, and L’Homme: Fragrances with Their Own Names

Lacoste’s fragrance history extends beyond L.12.12 and Original. Booster appeared in 1996, Pour Femme in 2003, Red and Touch of Pink in 2004, Essential in 2005, and L’Homme in 2017. These are not color variations within one collection: each has its own name and composition, and all remain in the manufacturer’s product selection.

Booster combines mint and orange with lavender, basil, cedarwood, and vetiver. Aromatic leaves familiar from the kitchen share the work of creating freshness with citrus. Red, by contrast, opens with apple and cedarwood, followed by pine, jasmine, patchouli, and vetiver.

Essential takes freedom and happiness as its themes. Citrus meets black pepper and rose before leading into sandalwood and patchouli.

Pour Femme Eau de Parfum was created by Olivier Cresp in 2003. Its current composition combines freesia and black pepper, jasmine and heliotrope, and cedarwood and suede.

Touch of Pink moves from blood orange and cardamom to jasmine and violet leaf, followed by sandalwood and musk.

L’Homme Lacoste, released in 2017, combines mandarin and rhubarb with black pepper, ginger, cedarwood, and vanilla. Its distinctive pairing leads from rhubarb’s fruity tartness and spices to wood and vanilla.

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.