When did the Lacoste Izod look come in? I know you guys had it in New York by '78, was it all over the country, or just an East Coast fashion?
That look didn't really get popular in the UK until a decade later. Interesting.
^ that has a more to do with Lacoste/Izod merchandising the crocodile logo onto any available surface while the Lacoste's European end stuck with a relatively small range of products until the early/mid 80s.
Lacoste in europe didn't really start branching out into a broader range of garments until about '83/84, I remember their denim range ( with the 'French flag' striped binding on the inside seams) and the zip up rain jackets being very covetable and almost impossible to find in the autumn of 85 ( for me this involved a trip to Porthcawl in South Wales and to a golf course 'pro-shop', the only official Lacoste stockist in a 100 mile radius of where I living at the time).
stanshall, I'm a moderate collector of Stones boots, and I have a couple of others, notably one by Hendrix. The Stones boots between 69 and 73 are lovely, offering a whole other look at what the band could do when it took to the stage and let Mick Taylor open up.
Even the 75 boots are pretty terrific, although, conversely, they reveal the weaknesses of Taylor's replacement. Ron Wood had some chops but he was nowhere close to Taylor's virtuosity.
Last edited by Chipper (2016-05-25 05:21:49)
/\ we had tons of Lacoste in the '60s and '70s, the Lacoste shirts had been popular here since the early 1950s ........
they had been staples for 25 years before the Late '70s Preps came along .....
in addition to the tennis/polo shirts, we had lots of great tennis shorts, bathing suits, sweaters, and light warm-up jackets by Lacoste all through the '60s and '70s
^ stan the Izod/Lacoste stuff was pretty distinct from the european Lacoste label, with a much more diversified product range and much better distribution.
The Izod licensing deal with Lacoste pretty much gave them the exclusive rights to put the crocodile on anything they wanted to for the US market.
/\ Ackee B, the Lacoste stuff was really great for years here, before Izod entered the picture
the French Lacoste shirts in Patron and Grand Patron, those were very high quality, the tale was in the toughness and density of the cloth
there were also Lacoste shorts and bathing suits that were excellent, I remember them, pale yellow bathing suit with gator on the leg, strong poplin,
we got some good real stuff from duty-free shops ...
then came Izod, my friend was a New York neighbor of the Izod man, I actually posted about him before in this thread or another, that was big business ....
the Izod stuff was more mall and less special, some of it was good, some was just cheese that didn't have much to do with the original designs or the aesthetic, for instance, putting out Izods with large pointy collars and open sleeves, straight tails
as opposed to the classic collars, long tails, banded sleeves of the real deal
so yeah, there was the French good old stuff, mainly shirts but some other stuff too, and then the Izod Lacoste stuff, some of which was great and some not, there was so much of it
at the classic Burdine's much Izod/Lacoste was to be had but all that stuff was really made for Florida anyhow so it clicked for us ... we had cabana sets of the stuff as kids in the '60s
the massive Izodness drove the preps to Boast shirts
Northeast preps of that era would not wear Polo
the school store had great made-in-England Fred Perry and Etonic, as well as the Boast, because by '78 the crocodile alligator logo had lost some of its lustre because of Izod overexposure
after Reagan the '80s kids started to wear the Polo stuff, the logo was always ridiculous but some of the unbranded goods were first-rate, I have to say I've had a belt, tie, socks, and luggage from them over the years and all those items were great
was handed down a polo shirt too and it lasted like crazy, it was wearable because the logo was invisible
as to the Boast shirts, I didn't want to wear a weed leaf even if it was a Japanese maple, but some people had them for a spell
what else was there? my little bro got stuck with some penguins, that was funny
oh yeah, Brooks got in there and I had a fave polo from them in pale yellow terry, USA, long tails, no logo or else invisible ... nobody else around had that shirt, I wore it for years
then there was Trimingham's, at $25 a pop, from Bermuda, they advertised in the New Yorker
Last edited by stanshall (2016-05-25 13:03:42)
Can anyone shed any light on the brand Rei Co-op the Japanese vintage market appears to go a bit giddy for it
Last edited by Horace (2016-05-26 01:22:33)
Last edited by Horace (2016-05-26 01:28:05)
A bit of history of the Izod-Lacoste deal...
1953: David Crystal and Vin Draddy, the owners of Izod and Haymaker labels, bought 50% of the rights to market Lacoste in America. The "Izod" and "Haymaker" brands were already established there. "Lacoste" was added to enhance the brands' prestige and introduce the name to American markets.
The resulting union of the two companies was the distillation of two separate products ( Izod 2 button golf shirt and the Lacoste 3 button tennis shirt ) into the now classic 2 button piqué polo/tennis shirt.
When the shirts took off, Crystal decided to keep the combined names and expand the range of products by re-badging his Haymaker brand.
The brand hit its peak popularity in the late '70s and early '80s, with many nationwide department stores featuring separate "Izod/Lacoste" shops, with jackets, sweaters and a wide variety of other apparel. During this period annual sales reached $150-200 million for the shirts alone.
The "preppy" trend cooled in the late 1980s and the brand became overexposed and the market was also saturated with knock-off 'bootleg' replicas.
The name was split in the early 1990s when Izod sought to expand company sales.
Lacoste moved upmarket in an attempt to recapture its "elite" status and the Izod label was re-introduced for mid-range apparel.
In 1993, he sold his 50% share of Lacoste to Sportloisirs S.A. (who originally marketed the shirt in France) after his company became too financially burdened. .
When the company folded shortly thereafter, the Izod brand was sold to the shirtmaker Van Heusen.
/\ Acks that is a nice explanation of the situation ... it was a Vincent Draddy thing baby!
Last edited by stanshall (2016-05-26 11:53:13)
Last edited by stanshall (2016-05-30 18:31:31)