Wearing logos on one’s clothing is a little strange and surprising to me. Did you ever wonder where the wearing of logos originated? I did a little research and here’s what I found out…
The first time a logo appeared on the outside of a garment was on the Jantzen Girl swimsuit in 1921. Jantzen was based in Oregon, and while the knitted suits were a sensation, and the image of a girl in diving formation with a red swimsuit and cap on became an icon, the idea of a logo on the outside of one’s clothes did not take off from there.
In the 1920’s a well-known French tennis player named Rene Lacoste was the top player in the world. He won seven grand-slam singles titles in France, and he went on to invent the first metal tennis racket, which was sold in the US under the name Wilson. Lacoste’s nickname was Le Crocodile, and in 1927 he started having shirts made that would be comfortable to wear in matches. They had very long tails, and to celebrate his success he had a tiny crocodile embroidered on each one. The croc was 2.8 centimeters wide. In 1933 Lacoste partnered with Andre Gillier, a French knitwear manufacturer, to create La Societe Chemise Lacoste. At first they only made the white tennis shirts that Lacoste had designed, but they became hugely popular. Later they added shirts for golf and sailing, but still in white. They did not add shirts of various colors until 1951. And in 1952 they launched in the American market, positioning themselves as the brand of choice for the accomplished sportsmen.
The brand was a success in the states as well. And in the same year that Lacoste took hold in the US another great tennis player started his own brand. It was Fred Perry, and his logo was the laurel wreath (in blue on a white polo shirt). Initially Brooks Brothers sold the Lacoste brand, but in 1960 they stopped selling Lacoste and came out with their own line of polo shirts with their company logo embroidered on it. It was a sheep suspended by ribbons – the Golden Fleece.
Ralph Lauren had already been making men’s clothing for years when in 1971 he introduced women’s suites that included a tiny polo player embroidered on the cuff. The logo was only 1.25” high. The tiny equestrian image was so popular that in 1972 it was on almost everything Ralph Lauren made, including mesh polo shirts that were offered in 24 colors. Today the logo can be seen as large as 5” high.
The latecomer of the subtle logos is the Vineyard Vines pink whale, introduced in 1998, and she is very dainty at only 1.05” wide. Somewhere along the line though a number of other labels caught on to the success of showing one’s brand on the outside of their clothes, but didn’t show any restraint at all. Abercrombie and Fitch is one that was once very conservative but somehow their labels developed into billboards on the front of their shirts. Ed Hardy is a brand based on nothing more than graphic design. And Juicy Couture has to be the most ostentatious of all with its brand name stretched across the backside of the pants on their ladies’ velvet track suits.
The over exposure of such brands has lead to a reaction among the fashion conscious. Brands line American Apparel, Ben Sherman, H&M, and Zara offer almost no branding at all on their clothes, and concentrate instead on comfortable clothes and original designs.
