for other uses see lacoste disambiguation . lacoste s.a. casper schmedes type soci t anonyme industry retail founded troyes france 1933 ; 83 years ago 1933 founder ren lacoste andr gillier headquarters corporate troyes distribution troyes products clothing shoes perfumes revenue 500m website www.lacoste.com lacoste french pronunciation la k st is a french clothing company founded in 1933 that sells high end clothing footwear perfume leather goods watches eyewear and most famously polo shirts . in recent years lacoste has introduced a home line of sheeting and towels . the company can be recognized by its green crocodile logo . 1 ren lacoste 2 the company s founder was nicknamed the crocodile by fans because of his tenacity on the tennis court . in november 2012 lacoste was bought by swiss family held group maus fr res . contents 1 history 2 brand management 3 retailers of the brand 4 legal dispute with crocodile 5 controversies 5.1 environmental practices 5.2 censorship of palestinian art 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit ren lacoste founded la chemise lacoste in 1933 with andr gillier the owner and president of the largest french knitwear manufacturing firm at the time . they began to produce the revolutionary tennis shirt lacoste had designed and worn on the tennis courts with the crocodile logo embroidered on the chest . although the company claims this as the first example of a brand name appearing on the outside of an article of clothing 3 the jantzen girl logo appeared on the outside of jantzen knitting mills swimsuits as early as 1921 . 4 in addition to tennis shirts lacoste produced shirts for golf and sailing . in 1951 the company began to expand as it branched from tennis white and introduced color shirts . in 1952 the shirts were exported to the united states and advertised as the status symbol of the competent sportsman influencing the clothing choices of the upper class . lacoste was sold at brooks brothers until the late 1960s . it is still one of the most popular brands in the united states sporting the preppy wardrobe . in 1963 bernard lacoste took over the management of the company from his father ren . significant company growth was seen under bernard s management . when he became president around 300 000 lacoste products were sold annually . the lacoste brand reached its height of popularity in the us during the late 1970s and became the signature 1980s preppy wardrobe item even getting mentioned in lisa birnbach s official preppy handbook of 1980 . the company also began to introduce other products into their line including shorts perfume optical and sunglasses tennis shoes deck shoes walking shoes watches and various leather goods . in the united states in the 1970s and 1980s izod and lacoste were often used interchangeably because starting in the 1950s izod produced clothing known as izod lacoste under license for sale in the u.s. this partnership ended in 1993 when lacoste regained exclusive u.s. rights to distribute shirts under its own brand . in 1977 le tigre clothing was founded in an attempt to directly compete with lacoste in the us market selling a similar array of clothing but featuring a tiger in place of the signature lacoste crocodile . more recently lacoste s popularity has surged due to french designer christophe lemaire s work to create a more modern upscale look . in 2005 almost 50 million lacoste products sold in over 110 countries . its visibility has increased due to the contracts between lacoste and several young tennis players including american tennis stars andy roddick and john isner french veteran richard gasquet and swiss olympic gold medalist stanislas wawrinka . lacoste has also begun to increase its presence in the golf world where noted two time masters tournament champion jos mar a olaz bal and scottish golfer colin montgomerie have been seen sporting lacoste shirts in tournaments . bernard lacoste became seriously ill in early 2005 which led him to transfer the presidency of lacoste to his younger brother and closest collaborator for many years michel lacoste . bernard died in paris on march 21 2006 . lacoste licenses its trademark to various companies . until recently devanlay owned the exclusive worldwide clothing license though today lacoste polo shirts are also manufactured under licence in thailand by icc and also in china . pentland group has the exclusive worldwide license to produce lacoste footwear procter & gamble owns the exclusive worldwide license to produce fragrance and cemalac holds the license to produce lacoste bags and small leather goods . in june 2007 lacoste introduced their very first e commerce site 5 for the u.s. market . in 2009 hayden christensen became the face of the challenge fragrance for men . 6 in september 2010 christophe lemaire stepped down and felipe oliveira baptista succeeded him as the creative manager of lacoste . 7 ren lacoste foundation is a community program developed to help children be able to play sports in school . in march 2016 the company opened a new flagship store on fashion street budapest . 8 brand management edit in the early 50s bernard lacoste teamed up with david crystal who at the time owned izod to produce izod lacoste clothing . in the 1970s and 1980s it was extremely popular with teenagers who called the shirts simply izod . while the union was both profitable and popular izod lacoste s parent company crystal brands inc. was saddled with debt from other business ventures . when attempts to separate izod and lacoste to create revenue did not alleviate the debt crystal sold his half of lacoste back to the french and izod was sold to van heusen . however starting in 2000 with the hiring of a new fashion designer christophe lemaire lacoste began to take over control of its brand name and logo reining in their branding arrangements . currently lacoste has once again returned to the elite status it held before a brand management crisis circa 1990 . lacoste was involved in a long standing dispute over its logo with hong kong based sportswear company crocodile garments . at the time lacoste used a crocodile logo that faced right registered in france in 1933 while crocodile used one that faced left registered in various asian countries in the 1940s and 1950s . lacoste tried to block an application from crocodile to register its logo in china during the 1990s the dispute ending in a settlement . as part of the agreement crocodile agreed to change its logo which now sports scalier skin bigger eyes and a tail that rises vertically . 9 retailers of the brand edit lacoste store in va kovka brno 5th avenue nyc 2013 lacoste in west edmonton mall . lacoste operates a large number of lacoste boutiques worldwide ; located as concessions in leading department stores and also as independent venue stores . in the united kingdom lacoste is available from many leading high end shops including kj beckett and john lewis partnership . likewise in the united states the lacoste brand can be found in stores such as saks fifth avenue nordstrom lord & taylor neiman marcus bloomingdale s macy s belk halls and other independent retailers . in canada lacoste is sold at harry rosen hudson s bay retailer its own boutiques and other independent retailers . in australia it is sold at david jones and myer . legal dispute with crocodile edit lacoste had a long standing dispute over the logo and clothing lines with crocodile . crocodile uses a crocodile logo that faces left while lacoste uses one that faces right . the two fought for the logo rights in china but eventually reached a compromise with crocodile agreeing to change its logo to have a more vertical tail and more scales for its logo . 10 controversies edit environmental practices edit in july 2011 lacoste along with other major fashion and sportswear brands including nike adidas and abercrombie & fitch was the subject of dirty laundry a report by the environmental group greenpeace . according to the findings of the report lacoste was accused of working with suppliers in china which contribute to the pollution of the yangtze and pearl rivers . samples taken from one facility belonging to the youngor group located on the yangtze river delta and another belonging to the well dyeing factory ltd. located on a tributary of the pearl river delta revealed the presence of hazardous and persistent hormone disruptor chemicals including alkylphenols perfluorinated compounds and perfluorooctane sulfonate . 11 censorship of palestinian art edit in december 2011 lacoste was accused of censoring the work of palestinian artist larissa sansour . sansour had initially been included on a shortlist of eight nominees for the prestigious lacoste lys e prize a competition which had been organized by the mus e de l lys e in lausanne switzerland with lacoste s sponsorship . sansour s entry into the competition was entitled nation estate which involved a series of dystopic sci fi images based on palestine s admission to unesco . in this work sansour imagines the state contained within a single skyscraper with each floor representing a replica of lost cities including jerusalem ramallah and sansour s own hometown of bethlehem . a month before the selection jury was to meet to choose the winner however the mus e de l lys e informed sansour that lacoste had changed its mind about including her work in the competition and asked the museum to remove her as a nominee citing her work to be too pro palestinian . sansour soon went public with her story and within 48 hours the mus e de l lys e came out in her support announcing in a press release 12 that it had decided to suspend its relationship with lacoste as a sponsor of this prize due to its insistence on excluding sansour from the competition . the museum emphasized that its decision to end the competition was in line with the organization s 25 years of commitment to artistic freedom . 13 lacoste s attempt to censor sansour s work led to widespread international negative media reports on the company s actions and renewed discussions on the role of private sector companies in art sponsorships . 14 15 see also edit croc o shirt crocodile garments izod izod lacoste lacoste essential fragrance fred perry sergio tacchini references edit lacoste logo design and history . famouslogos.net . retrieved 2011 07 29 . overview lacoste french apparel rene lacoste . textilefabricgarment.com . retrieved 2013 09 08 . lacoste history lacoste . vintage fashion guild . 2011 10 17 . retrieved 2011 11 21 . lacoste shop . shop.lacoste.com . retrieved 2011 11 21 . lacoste signs hayden christensen masala bollywood gossip news indian celebrities and pictures . www.masala.com . retrieved 2016 04 19 . lacoste s new crocodile felipe oliveira baptista . interview magazine . retrieved 2016 04 19 . lacoste opens flagship store at fashion street . www.property magazine.eu . retrieved 2016 04 19 . brown andrew 2003 10 31 . crocodile tears end logo fight . cnn . turner broadcasting system . retrieved 2011 05 25 . cnn.com business crocodile tears end logo fight oct. 31 2003 dirty laundry unravelling the corporate connections to toxic water pollution in china . greenpeace . 2011 . suspension of the lacoste elys e prize 2011 pdf press release . lausanne switzerland mus e de l lys e. 21 december 2011 . archived from the original pdf on 2 march 2012 . milmo cahal 2011 12 21 . lacoste accused of attempting to censor too pro palestinian art . the independent . london . lacoste prize cancelled amid censorship row . bbc news . 2011 12 22 . swash rosie 2011 12 22 . lacoste denies censoring palestinian artist in art prize row . the guardian . london