The rich heritage of the Lacoste Sports Apparel franchise

The Lacoste Sports Apparel franchise is a provider of branded sports apparel in India. The sports goods franchise offers clubs, clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods, belts, watches and other sports accessories.

In 1933, René LACOSTE and André GILLIER, the then owner and President of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm, set up a company to manufacture the logo-embroidered shirt. Designed for own use on the tennis court, the logo became a famous one for T-shirts as well as other shirts for tennis, golf and sailing- as can be seen in the first catalogue, produced in 1933.

After a brief halt in manufacturing during the war, the production resumed in 1946 in the French market. In 191, the shirts began being exported to Italy and a year later, the USA opened its markets to LaCoste The colour range was introduced in 1956 and in 1960 came the launch of shorts and striped polo shirts.

In 1963, the invention of the first steel racket by René Lacoste was launched. This was truly a revolution in tennis equipment, far superior to the wooden models. This racket won 46 titles of the Grand Slam tournaments between 1966 and 1978, was distributed in the United States by Wilson and was used notably by Jimmy Connors and Billie Jean King.

The next significant invention came as a launch of a new line of Lacoste tennis shoes, manufactured in France, followed by deck shoes in 1986 and walking shoes in 1988. In 1988, René Lacoste took out a patent for a new concept of tennis rackets: "Equisysteme". Its unique shape significantly increases tolerance for off-centre shots. Guy Forgot won the Davis Cup 3 years later, in 1991, with this racket.