Lacoste is a French clothing company founded in 1933 that sells high-end clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods, watches, eyewear, and most famously polo shirts. The company can be recognized by its green crocodile logo. Rene Lacoste, the company’s founder, was nicknamed “the Crocodile” by fans because of his tenacity on the tennis court.
“I was nicknamed ‘the Alligator’ by the American press, after I made a bet with the Captain of the French Davis Cup Team concerning a suitcase made from crocodile skin. He promised to buy it for me if I won a very important match for our team. The public must have been fond of this nickname which conveyed the tenacity I displayed on the tennis courts, never letting go of my prey! So my friend Robert George drew a ‘crocodile’, which I then had embroidered on the blazer I wore on the courts.” -Rene Lacoste