About Lacoste:
Rene Lacoste was a famous French tennis player in the 30’s and late 20’s. He was known as the Crocodile, some say due to the shape of his nose, others said ??
After World War II he began to re-market tennis shirts with a crocodile emblem without much success. His good friend and former tennis competitor, “Big” Bill Tilden brought some shirts back to the US and showed them to Vincent dePaul Draddy, who was the President of a dress company called David Crystal.
Draddy somehow managed to give some shirts to President Eisenhower in the mid-50’s. Ike was a great gold aficionado and wore the shirts and pictures of him in the shirt were printed around the country and the product took off.
In the US, David Crystal Inc, owned US rights to the trademark. At the same time there was a rain coat company in Baltimore called the Alligator Co. and due to confusion about the crocodile and the alligator, the companies ended up in litigation which was finally settled when David Crystal Inc bought the Alligator Co. for cash.
David Crystal had its own line of menswear in the 50’s called Izod of London and it began to meld the trademarks into a single product line such that the label said Izod or Izod Lacoste and the emblem was on the garment. This was extended to women’s and children’s clothing lines.
In 1968, David Crystal Inc went public. Their first and only annual report showed a very young Lauren Hutton on the cover and in 1969 General Mills Inc, (yes Betty Crocker et al) bought David Crystal for stock and cash.
As the 70’s began, basic Lacoste shirt (style 2057 in cotton and 2058 in cotton and polyester) were still being made in France to the French quality specifications while the rest of the product line was produced domestically and then in the Caribbean and Central America and ultimately in Asia.
The preppy look fad started in 1978 and peaked in 1982 and fell precipitously in 83 and 84. In 1986 General Mills divested itself of their garment and fashion business and did a spin-off of the subsidiaries into Crystal Brands Inc.
Quality suffered, the company tanked and the Izod trademark has been sold several times in the last 22 years. The Lacoste family regained title to the trademark, pulled out of the US and then began to re-enter the US market with a truly high quality, expensive product. Their volume is nowhere near what is was even in the mid-70’s.
Fashion is a volatile and fickle business and quality has shrunk but in many cases you do get what you pay for.
I worked at David Crystal for ten years.
SRM
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