Roland-Garros doesn’t have meaning without Lacoste. That’s because the stadium’s construction is a tale of Four Musketeers: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste. In 1928, to host the United States and keep their Davis Cup title, the city of Paris allowed for the enlargement of the Roland-Garros stadium, seeing that it no longer suited such an important competition. During that very Davis Cup, the trainer for the French team Allan H. Mur promised René Lacoste a crocodile skin suitcase if he won the duel. It didn’t take much more for the American news media to nickname him “the alligator”, highlighting René Lacoste’s tenacity in the meanwhile. At the same time, René Lacoste found the comfort and perfection he was looking for on the court within his soon-to-be-famous polo. While his creations were then only for him, the brand’s future ambassadors and champions would be numerous to bear Lacoste’s colors and values loud and proud on the courts. “We will be celebrating 40 years of uninterrupted partnership with Roland-Garros next year. It’s a logical and natural engagement in light of the ties that bind the stadium, tennis, and the brand’s history,” explains Christophe Chenut, General Director of Lacoste.
Today, just for the opening of Roland-Garros, Lacoste is presenting a capsule collection that’s entirely dedicated to the tournament. A cap and a pair of sneakers, polos and t-shirts for men and women alike, this line imagined by Felipe Oliveira Batipta is labeled with a triple logo composed with the famous crocodile, a musketeers’ cut, and the tournament’s official logo. Vintage-inspired t-shirts retrace a 1973 ad campaign; Lacoste is also dressing up each of the statues of the Musketeers with a labeled polo! And just to sweep tennis enthusiasts off their feet, Lacoste developed a Facebook app that allows you to customize your own tennis ball with the colors of Lacoste and of this 40th anniversary.
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