Explaining a famous logo's originfrom @alextwma

Transcript

Alright, see this crocodile? You might know it as the logo for Lacoste, but here's the thing, not only was it never supposed to be a logo, it was the first time a logo was put on a shirt at all, and it started with an unusual bet in 1923. Rene Lacoste was one of the greatest tennis players in the worse, part of a group the press called the Four Musketeers, four French players who dominated the sport throughout the nineteen twenties. Lacoste wasn't a naturally gifted player, but instead had a very academic approach to tennis. He would study his opponent's play styles and wear them down until they broke. In Boston in 1923, Lacoste's Davis Cup captain promised him a crocodile skin suitcase if he won his next match. He worst, but the American press had been watching and they named him the Crocodile anyway, a reference to his relentless play style and suitcase wager. The nickname stuck with Lacoste and he soon had a crocodile embroidered on his blazer every time he walked onto the court. Here's where it gets interesting. Tennis players at the time wore stiff long sleeve button up shirts completely impractical for athletic movement. Lacoste found them unbearable. So he designed his own shirt, a short sleeved lightweight polo shirt in breathable cotton pique. He wore it at the nineteen twenty six US Open and nobody had seen anything like it. When he retired from competitive tennis in 1933, he formalized what he'd been doing informally for years. He founded Lacoste and put the crocodile or his crocodile on the chest of every shirt. It was the first time in fashion history that a visible logo appeared on the outside of a garment. Before that, branding only existed inside the collar. Lacoste put it front and better, and that breakthrough form of advertising was picked up by the rest of the fashion industry. It's the same reason many of your t shirts today have a visible logo somewhere. So Lacoste lost the bet over a suitcase he never won and later had to withdraw from tennis. But his influence never left the court. He didn't just change the way the game was played, he changed what people wore to play it, and eventually what everyone wore everywhere else.