The Lacoste crocodile logo was first embroidered on a blazer. René Lacoste wore the crocodile on his white blazer before it appeared on the company’s famous tennis shirts.
The emblem grew from Lacoste’s nickname, “the Crocodile.” In 1923, an American journalist connected the nickname to a wager involving a crocodile-skin suitcase and to Lacoste’s relentless style of play. His friend Robert George later drew a crocodile design for him, and Lacoste had it embroidered onto his blazer around 1927.
This predates the creation of the Lacoste clothing company. In 1933, Lacoste and André Gillier began producing a lightweight, short-sleeved tennis shirt made from a breathable piqué knit. That shirt carried the crocodile on the chest and helped establish the modern branded polo.
People often remember the logo specifically as a polo-shirt emblem, but the blazer came first. Lacoste’s decision to display the symbol openly was unusual at the time and helped make the crocodile one of fashion’s earliest highly visible clothing logos.