The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

French brand Lacoste looks to their tennis heritage to unveil their Courtline and Court Slam sneakers. Jada Brookes discovers founder René Lacoste’s connection with the sport. bite shoes L acoste Game, Set, and Match I nitially known for their polo shirts, Lacoste founder René Lacoste transformed the world of tennis in terms of fashion. An avid tennis player himself, he made the crucial decision at the age of 18 to focus entirely on his passion for the sport, training tirelessly to hone his strength, precision, and concentration. Having studied the game and his opponents to better exhaust and beat them, he won seven major singles tournaments and played on the French team who took the Davis Cup in 1927 and 1928. Before the founder influenced tennis uniform, it had con- sisted of long-sleeve shirts and pleated trousers with belts. René understood the need for clothing to be adaptable so he shortened the sleeves of a typical tennis shirt to create the first comfortable polo. For the first time, designs were em- broidered with a signature crocodile making them instantly recognisable. Before long he was dressing his friends and family in the polo shirts during international matches which were light, adaptable and highly desirable. Ahead of his time, René was a revolutionary thinker and had a million ideas to improve his game as well as make practice more comfortable. This is what made him such a unique player and inventor. He was responsible for reshaping the handle of a racket and covering it with surgical tape to get a better grip. With more than thirty patents filed over his life- time, some of his inventions included a machine that fired tennis balls to help a player practice alone and a metal racket that was lightweight and easy to handle. The story behind the crocodile symbol first surfaced when René’s tennis team captain promised him the crocodile leather suitcase that he had admired in a store window if he won his upcoming match. He didn’t win that particu- lar match but had the determination of the crocodile on court, which is why an American journalist gave him the nickname. The crocodile logo designed by Robert George in 1927 was firstly embroidered on René’s blazers and then appeared years later on the polo shirts. Becoming the first brand to display a visible logo on an article of clothing, the crocodile logo was embroidered over the heart on Lacoste’s polo shirts. Before adding elegance to our style, the polo shirt goes through four stages: knitting,