Lacoste
| LACOSTE SA | |
|---|---|
| legal form | SA |
| founding | 1933 |
| Seat | Paris , France |
| Branch | Textile industry |
| Website | www.lacoste.com |
| As of November 21, 2017 | |
The LACOSTE SA (formerly La Chemise Lacoste SA ) is the holding company -Gesellschaft the internationally renowned French clothing brand Lacoste .
The holding company determines the strategic direction of the Lacoste brand and monitors its image and the granting of worldwide licenses. Clothing , shoes , perfume , leather goods , glasses , household textiles, watches , umbrellas and other diverse accessories in the upper middle price segment are sold under the brand name Lacoste . Lacoste's trademark is a stylized crocodile , which is one of the most famous logos in the world. The company operates worldwide. Since the end of 2012, the former family company Lacoste has been in the hands of the Swiss Maus Frères Holding from Geneva , which had acquired a minority shareholding in Lacoste from the end of the 1990s.
Company history
René Lacoste
Lacoste was founded by the successful French tennis player René Lacoste (1904-1996) - a multiple French Open , Wimbledon and US Open winner. Probably the best-known item of clothing by Lacoste is the polo shirt , which Lacoste designed in 1927 for its own use as a tennis shirt. Until then, tennis was played in normal white shirts and white blazers . The Lacoste polo shirts had the clear advantage that they were airier than the other shirts due to the specially developed ribbed fabric ( Jersey Petit Piqué ). The first Lacoste polo shirt, like the tennis shirts, was of course white. This polo shirt is also known as “ L 12.12 ”, a code that the company uses as “L” for Lacoste, “1” for the new piqué fabric, “2” for the short-sleeved version and “12” for that by René Lacoste selected sample model explained.
The fact that René Lacoste chose a crocodile as the company logo has something to do with an incident in 1923. His tennis teammate and Davis Cup captain Pierre Gillou had promised René Lacoste an alligator leather suitcase while window shopping in Boston , if he won the tennis match held that afternoon. Although Lacoste lost the game, stuck from then on the nickname "The Crocodile" in it, which the American press with regard to the case-promise launches had. The combative and tenacious qualities of a crocodile were symbolically transferred to René Lacoste's excellent tennis game. Lacoste then had a medium-sized green cloth badge in the shape of a crocodile sewn to his tennis clothing at chest height.
When Lacoste entered into a cooperation with the French knitwear manufacturer André Gillier (1882-1935) for the mass production of polo shirts in 1933 , La Chemise Lacoste was officially registered as a brand name. Thus 1933 is considered the year the company was founded. The company Établissements Gillier was finally taken over in 1961 by the textile company Devanlay-Recoing (today: Devanlay SA) of the industrialist Pierre Lévy (1907-2002). In the same year, Lacoste articles were first sold on the German market.
Lacoste was the first clothing company to have their logo clearly visible on clothing. The Lacoste crocodile is sewn on like a badge , in contrast to shirts from manufacturers such as Ralph Lauren or Fred Perry , where the logo is embroidered.
In 1952, Lacoste entered into a license agreement with the American clothing manufacturer David Crystal Co. from New York City , which owned the sportswear brand Izod . The independent brand Izod Lacoste was created exclusively for the American market , which is why the crocodile logo is still sometimes associated with the Izod brand in America. After initial difficulties, the brand developed a large following in the medium-priced preppy segment, favored by prominent wearers such as John F. Kennedy . This trend only subsided in the early 1990s, which is why the brands Izod and Lacoste in the USA finally separated, the licensing agreement ended in 1993 and Izod was sold to Phillips-Van Heusen in 1995 . Since 1993, the Lacoste brand presence in North America has again been controlled by the French Lacoste SA, and since 2000 at the latest, the Lacoste brand has also returned to the upper mid-price segment in the USA.
In 1958, Lacoste launched a lightweight tennis shoe and offered children's clothing for the first time. In 1961, René Lacoste patented the collar of his polo shirt, and in 1968 he launched the first Lacoste perfume, Eau de Sport , in collaboration with Jean Patou . Lacoste clothing changed traditional tennis clothing over the years: cotton blouson jacket (1966), cotton cardigan (1969), polo dress (1969). In 1969 Lacoste leather bags were offered for the first time. In 1981 the first Lacoste store opened on avenue Victor Hugo in Paris. In the same year, the range was expanded to include sunglasses, towels, and bathrobes. The first American Lacoste boutiques opened their doors in 1995 in Palm Beach, Bal Harbor and New York City.
Succession
From 1963 to 2005 the company was managed by René Lacoste's son Bernard Lacoste (1931–2006), until he had to relinquish the management for health reasons. Bernard's brother Michel Lacoste (* 1944) managed the company from September 2005 to the beginning of 2008. He was President of the Lacoste Group until 2012. From 2008, the CEO of Lacoste was the Frenchman Christophe Chenut (* 1961) as the first non-member of the Lacoste family. Devanlay was headed from 2009 by the Spaniard José Luis Duran, a former CEO of Carrefour , who succeeded the former Devanlay CEO , Guy Latourette (* 1944).
The creative director and chief designer of the Lacoste brand was the Portuguese Felipe Oliveira Baptista from 2010 to 2018 . Christophe Lemaire (2000–2010, then to Hermès ), Gilles Rosier (1996–1999, then to KENZO ), Guy Paulin (1986–1996) and from 1970 Ruben Torres held this post . Baptista was followed in October 2018 by former Joseph designer Louise Trotter, who has since focused on ready-to-wear clothing. Since September 2003, the Lacoste collections have been presented at the twice-yearly New York Fashion Week . In previous years, the designs had been shown at the Paris fashion shows on Lemaire's initiative.
Company data
In 1998 the Swiss retail group Maus Frères acquired 90% of the shares in Devanlay. This was accompanied by a worldwide expansion and rejuvenation of the Lacoste brand, which until the 1990s had been considered a "sleeping giant". In 2013 Lacoste celebrated its 80th anniversary. On this occasion, Lacoste invited eight traditional French companies to design a limited anniversary product for Lacoste: Baccarat (crystal vase ), Bernardaud (golf tees ), Boucheron (crocodile brooches ), Christofle ( silver golf clubs ), Fauchon ( Éclairs ) , Goyard (travel bag), Hermés (tennis bag made of crocodile skin ), ST Dupont (stationery set).
The main licensee and contractual partner in the clothing sector has been Devanlay SA , based in Paris and Troyes , which has been 90% owned by the Swiss Maus Frères Holding since 1998 (as the successor to Établissements Gillier ) . Lacoste SA owned the remaining 10% of the shares in Devanlay until 2012. Devanlay in turn held a 35% stake in Lacoste SA; the remaining 65% were owned by the Lacoste family until 2012. At the end of 2012, Michel Lacoste transferred a 30% stake in Lacoste to Maus Frères SA due to family disputes, whereby the Swiss company became the majority shareholder in Lacoste with 65% of the shares via Devanlay. Michel Lacoste had previously had to vacate his post as President of the Lacoste Group at the insistence of his children Sophie and Philippe Lacoste, which was subsequently filled by Sophie Lacoste. After the sale of Michel Lacoste's shares in October 2012, Sophie Lacoste also felt compelled to sell a stake in Lacoste - valued at one billion euros at the time - of almost 28% to Maus Frères. The Geneva-based company thus held over 93% of the shares in Lacoste and announced that it would also buy up the remaining shares. At the beginning of 2013, José Luis Duran succeeded Christophe Chenut as CEO of Lacoste SA. With Sophie Lacoste Dournel and her cousin Béryl Lacoste Hamilton, two members of the Lacoste family continue to sit on the company's board of directors.
The company's total turnover in 2010 was 1.4 billion euros, 60% of which came from clothing and textiles. In the 2011 financial year, with total sales of 1.6 billion euros, Lacoste achieved the best sales figures in the company's history to date. In 2010 Lacoste operated 38 boutiques in Germany (half of which were run by partners); there are more than 1100 boutiques worldwide. The first German Lacoste store opened in Hamburg in 1989. In Germany there are also almost 100 Lacoste sales areas in other department stores. Lacoste sells around 48 million items a year. Some of Lacoste's clothing is still produced in France at Troyes - this mainly includes the “Made in France” collection, with a large part and the shoes, which are also produced under license, almost exclusively in North Africa and Asia. There is a production plant in Peru for the US market .
The company has been fighting manufacturers of counterfeit Lacoste goods for years . Since 2008, Lacoste uses the slogan "Save our logo" (Eng .: protects our logo ) for endangered species of crocodiles, alligators, caimans one etc.. In addition, Lacoste is active in the field of sports sponsorship , especially in the tennis segment.
Licenses
Lacoste SA does not produce any goods itself, but instead grants numerous licenses to various manufacturers for the various products in the brand's portfolio.
- Clothing and leather goods - Devanlay SA ( Cologne-based Yello Sport GmbH holds a license for Germany ; Samsonite held the leather goods license until 2010 )
- Shoes - Pentland Group
- Perfume - Procter & Gamble
- Glasses - Marchon
- Watches - Movado
- Home textiles - zucchi
- Jewelry - GL Bijoux Group
- and more
Collections
- Lacoste - the main sporty collection for women, men and children with clothing, accessories, leather goods, perfume, watches and shoes in the upper middle price segment
- Lacoste L! VE - fashionable women’s and men’s collection for a younger audience with clothing, perfume and accessories as well as its own shops (since 2010 the replacement line for the Lacoste RED! Collection originally established in 2008 )
- Lacoste Sport - sportswear and accessories for women, men and children, each for tennis, golf and other sports
- Lacoste Home - the home article collection launched in 2000 with bed linen, towels, bathrobes, etc.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ From the tennis court to the catwalks. faz.net, July 5, 2011.
- ↑ Lacoste L 12.12. ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. lacoste.com, Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ^ History of Lacoste. devanlay.fr, accessed November 8, 2011.
- ↑ Claudia Leu: Index Logo. MITP, ISBN 3-8266-1507-7 , p. 116.
- ↑ Felipe Oliveira leaves Lacoste vogue.co.uk, May 2, 2018
- ↑ Lacoste - Designer Fashion Label. nymag.com, Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ↑ Lacoste entrusts its creative direction, Louise Trotter, to fashionnetwork.com, October 4, 2018
- ^ FASHION DIARY; Channeling Thurston Howell III. nytimes.com, September 17, 2003.
- ↑ Maus Frères control Devanlay. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. textilwirtschaft.de, March 26, 1998.
- ↑ Crocodile with potential. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ionewmanagement.ch, March 25, 1998.
- ↑ The crocodile reappears. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. textilwirtschaft.de, July 19, 2001.
- ^ Lacoste - Maisons Françaises. ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. lacoste.com, Retrieved October 9, 2013.
- ^ Lacoste & Maisons Françaises. elle.de, June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Lacoste celebrates its 80th birthday. vogue.de, June 10, 2013.
- ↑ Lacoste Press Kit ( July 7, 2011 memento on the Internet Archive ), lacoste.com, accessed November 8, 2011.
- ↑ Hungry Mouse Swallows Crocodile ( Memento from November 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), ftd.de, November 8, 2012
- ↑ Lacoste: Mouse swallows crocodile. derstandard.at, November 8, 2012.
- ↑ Maus Frères takes over Lacoste completely. ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. textilwirtschaft.de, November 15, 2012.
- ↑ Swiss Maus Group takes over Lacoste. diepresse.com, November 7, 2012.
- ↑ Lacoste appoints new CEO. ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. textilwirtschaft.de, January 9, 2013.
- ^ Lacoste bat son record historique de ventes. lefigaro.fr, March 5, 2012.
- ↑ "We have to lift our image in Germany." ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. textilwirtschaft.de, January 28, 2010.
