Fred Perry vs Rene Lacoste

Walk down any high street in the UK and you're most guaranteed to see someone sporting either a Lacoste or Fred Perry polo shirt. Both designers are well known for being staples of the fashion industry, but how much do you actually know about the person behind the brand?

Well, both the Frenchman Rene Lacoste and Englishman Fred Perry could play tennis, a bit...

Okay, that right there might well be the biggest understatement we have ever made. Lacoste won 6 Grand Slams, and Perry won 7 – to put it into perspective, our beloved Andy Murray has 2 Grand Slam Wins. Both Lacoste and Perry won their impressive totals in the space of just 4 years each, although they didn’t quite cross over – Lacoste’s last one was 1929 and Perry’s first was 1933. They did feature in one Grand Slam together (the 1932 French Open), and would have faced each other in the Semi-Final, but their paths never crossed as both were eliminated by the Quarter-Final stage.

Away from tennis both sportsmen found their way into the clothing industry. Lacoste in particular was a pioneer in the industry – not liking traditional tennis attire, he came up with what is now known as the polo shirt, which he first wore in 1926 at the US Open.

The design of the polo shirt overcame lots of problems associated with traditional tennis attire. The short sleeves solved the problem of long flapping sleeves, the neck could be easily unbuttoned and loosened, and the collar could be worn turned up to protect the neck from the sun. Also the pique knit fabric had breathing capabilities.

They were created just for the sole use of Lacoste himself, but in 1933 after more and more interest was shown in them, he teamed up with the owner of the largest knitwear manufacturer in France, Andre Gillier, and founded the small company La Societe Chemise Lacoste that produced a white polo shirt. The company really began to expand in 1951 when it branched out and introduced a line of colour shirts.

This caught the attention of Perry and his business partner, Tibby Wegner (they had already designed and released the first head and wrist sweatband together), and the first Fred Perry Tennis Shirt was launched at Wimbledon in 1952 and was an immediate success.

Both designs were similar – crisp, clean, practical designs with small branding to the upper left breast. In fact it is said the Lacoste crocodile logo was one of (if not) the first pieces of branding within the industry. There are numerous explanations of why it is a Crocodile. A 2006 New York Times obituary about Lacoste's son, Bernard, provides an apparently authoritative one, that in the 1920s, supposedly, Lacoste made a bet with his team captain about whether he would win a certain match.
The stakes were a suitcase he had seen in a Boston store; it was made of crocodile skin. Later, René Lacoste's friend Robert George embroidered a crocodile onto a blazer that Lacoste wore for his matches – although it is still disputed that it could be an alligator, as no definitive answer was ever given by Lacoste himself.

The history of the Fred Perry laurel wreath logo appears to be more clear cut. It was simply based on the original symbol for Wimbledon.

Since then both brands have gone from strength to strength. The Fred Perry tennis shirt became popular in the UK with the subculture groups throughout 60’s and 70’s, ranging from mods, skinheads to the Northern soul scene.
Lacoste has kept strong ties within Tennis, sponsoring a number of high profile athletes, but has also expanded globally now annually selling more than 50 million products in over 120 countries.

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