When Rene Lacoste and his teammates called “The Musketeers” wrenched the Davis Cup out of the hands of the American players, he was included as one of the legends of tennis lore. This was eighty years ago. This of course, was in addition to three 3 French Open victories, two victories that took place in England, as well as his two victories in the U.S. Open that occurred at Forest Hills, NY.

Rene Lacoste lived a long life having been in July of 1904 in France and having died October 12th in 1996, ninety-two years later. The story of the famous ‘alligator’ has its inception in the year of 1927. It was a favorite story René Lacoste that he liked to tell all over about how a nickname given to him eventually turned into an emblem that is recognized everywhere all over the world.

The way he tells it, the United States press gave him the nickname the ‘alligator’. This occurred following a bet Lacoste made with the Captain of the French Davis Cup Team with regard to a suitcase that consisted of alligator skin. The team captain said that he would by Lacoste the suitcase made from alligator skin if he were to win one particularly important match for his team. The name stuck since it seemed to well reflect the tenacity shown by Lacoste on the tennis courts when playing for his team, never loosening his grip on his prey.

In connection with this, Lacoste’s friend drew an alligator for him which he in turn had embroidered on the blazer that he wore when playing tennis on the courts.

Mademoiselle Simone Thion de la Chaume was an attentive viewer of the game played at René Lacoste’s Davis Cup matches. She was also winner of the British Women’s golf title and would soon become Lacoste’s wife and close support.

In 1933 Rene Lacoste joined forces with André Gillier, who at the time owned and ran the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm of that time. Together they established a company to manufacture the specially designed logo-embroidered shirt. Lacoste had already designed such a shirt that he used when playing on the courts in addition to several other shirts designed to used when participating in golf, tennis, and sailing – this may be seen in the company’s initial catalogue, which was produced in 1933.

It is generally understood that this is the first case of a brand name being used as part of the design of the clothing appearing as it does on the outside. This concept has gained a great deal of use and success since then. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a brand name appeared on the outside of an article of clothing – and idea which has since become extremely successful.