Lacostte : About the Label

Izod Lacostte Vintage T-shirts

The Lacoste Crocodile shirt came about in 1933, when then tennis star Rene’ Lacoste joined teams with a French garment maker to manufacture tennis shirts. Later in 1952, Lacoste signed a contract with the David Crystal Company to import, and in 1966, to make Lacoste shirts in the United States. David Crystal was also the owner of Izod and Haymaker, and so the crocodile can be found on garments with quite a few different labels.

These shirts and dresses became very fashionable in the middle 1960s and in the early 1980s, and came to solidify the “preppy” look. The relationship between Izod and Lacoste came to an end in 1992, and today La Chemise Lacoste is the maker and licensee of all Lacoste products.

There are many variations of the Lacoste label, with combinations of Lacoste, Izod, Haymaker and David Crystal names. We are showing just a few of the typical labels.