Izod Lacoste

Izod Lacoste was a brand name licensed by Lacoste to Izod from 1952-1993. In 1953, David Crystal, who at the time already owned Izod, bought 50% of the rights to market Lacoste in America. While the "Izod" was already established in America, the name "Lacoste" was added for prestige and introducing "Lacoste" to American markets. The resulting union of the two compaines was the pique polo/tennis shirt. When the shirts began to sell well, Crystal brand kept the jointed name. "Izod/Lacoste" hit its peak popularity in the late 70's and early 80's when the "preppy" look became mainstream, with many nationwide department stores featuring "Izod/Lacoste" shops, which included jackets, sweaters and various other apparel. During this period annual sales reached $150million, on shirts alone. The downfall began after the "preppy" trend cooled in the late 1980's after the brand became overexposed and saturated the market, often the target off knock-off replica's. The "Izod/Lacoste" name was split in the early 1990's when Crystal sought to expand company sales; Lacoste was moved upmarket trying to recapture its "eliete" status, meanwhile Izod was re-introduced as mid-range apparel. While this tatic worked for a short period, it could not support Crystal's company completley (which had became bloated with debt. due to poor investments in other brands such as "Salty Dog", and "Gant") The marketing license ended in the mid-1990's after David Crystal's company became too financially burdend, in 1993 David Crystal sold his 50% share of Lacoste back to Sporloisirs S.A. (which originally marketed the shirt in France.) When Crystal's company folded shortly thereafter, Izod was sold to the American/British based shirtmaker VanHeusen.

Both Izod and Lacoste continue to produce similar pique polo shirts, though independent of each other and are still mistaken for the same company. Izod has had a number of re-postioning in the market place (its current being mid and upper-market, with its Izod/Luxury line) Lacoste has only recently become available again in the United States, though its current posistioning remains entirely upscale. Both brands continue to be popular in their own right.

* Lacoste (company)

External links

* [http://www.lacoste.com/ Official Lacoste Site]
* [http://www.izod.com/ IZOD]