The Polo Shirt and Its History

Many of us have heard the term polo shirt and manyof his shirts. The American press had begun to refer
of us have worn them or still wear them. But howto him as “the alligator”, a nickname that he
many of us know where the term polo shirt cameembraced.
from and whom it was that came up with it?In 1933, after retiring from professional tennis, Lacoste
Indeed the shirt started with the game of polo. Poloteamed up with André Gillier, a friend who was a
started off as a sport played by Tibetan men whoclothing merchandiser, to market that shirt in Europe
called the ball that they hit a pulu. In the 7th Century theand North America. Together, they formed the
Persians invented a new game, a game that madecompany Chemise Lacoste, and began selling their
use of the pulu by riding horses and hitting it with sticks.shirts, which still included the small-embroidered
By the time that the Persian game had become acrocodile logo on the left breast.
recognized Indian sport, it was called “polo.”By 1972, Ralph Lauren took the ideas of Lacoste’s
When the British occupied India, they enjoyed watchingand Lewis Lacey and included his “polo shirt” as
polo games. The British eventually learned how to playa prominent part of his original line called Polo. While not
polo as well and brought the sport to England.specifically geared for use by polo players,
In the mid-1800s, sports teams in Britain began to wearLauren’s shirt imitated what by that time had
knitted shirts at soccer games, at rowing matches andbecome the normal attire for polo players. Lauren
at other sporting events. Although they had longprominently included his new attire as the “sport of
sleeves, their jerseys did share one feature withkings”. On the shirts he kept Lacoste’s crocodile
today’s polo shirt and that was they were madeemblem. This worked well as a marketing tool, for
from a knitted material. By the19th century, asubsequently, due to the immense popularity of
businessman and entrepreneur who saw the jerseysLauren’s clothing, a majority of English-speaking
and liked them, redesigned them and sold them aswesterners began to refer to Lacoste’s tennis shirt
“polo shirts.” Printed ads for “polo shirts”as a “polo shirt”.
appeared in Maryland papers as early as 1887.Over the latter half of the twentieth century, as
In 1923 the members of the Hurlingham Polo Team instandard clothing in golf became more casual, the polo
Buenos Aires appeared at a match wearing the nowshirt became adopted nearly universally as standard
newly labeled polo shirts. The popularity of the shirtgolf attire. Lacoste’s “tennis shirt” in various
grew and in 1920 a man named Lewis Lacey openedgolf cuts has resulted in specific designs of the tennis
a clothing store in Buenos Aires and sold the shirts.shirt for golf, resulting in the moniker “golf shirt”.
The shirts now had a logo depicting a polo player on aGolf shirts are commonly made out of polyester,
pony.cotton and polyester blends, or mercerized cotton. The
In 1926 Rene Lacoste, a famous tennis player, broughtplaque typically holds three or four buttons, and
the polo shirt to the public eye in a new way, showingconsequently extends lower than the typical polo
his audience that the shirt could be worn for more thanneckline. The collar is typically fabricated using a
just polo.stitched double-layer of the same fabric used to make
Lacoste’s shirts were white, which was typical ofthe shirt, in contrast to a polo shirt collar, which is
tennis clothing then, short-sleeved, made of loosely knitusually one-ply ribbed knit cotton.
piqué cotton with an un-starched, flat protrudingNow the polo shirt is worn as standard attire due to its
collar. It also had a buttoned placket, and a longercomfort. The shirts are worn by students and adults,
shirttail in back than in front. He first wore the shirt atathletes and non-athletes alike. It seems the little
the 1926 U.S. Open championship. Beginning in 1927,crocodile is here to stay.
Lacoste placed a crocodile emblem on the left breast