Lacoste and Sporty & Rich Unveil Collaboration
Lacoste is dipping into its archives for its latest collaboration.
The French fashion label is teaming with sportswear brand Sporty & Rich for a collection that leverages Lacoste’s archival styles from the ’70s and ’80s. The 22-piece collection offers apparel and accessories including tracksuits, sweatshirts, pleated skirts, tank tops, jumpsuits, hats and polo shirts.
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The collection was co-created by Lacoste’s former creative director Louis Trotter and Sporty & Rich founder Emily Oberg.
“It was super clear that we both wanted to go into the archives and look at the past,” Oberg said. “Our brand is very much a vintage-inspired brand, so [Trotter] sent me a ton of photos of their archive from the ‘70s and ‘80s and then we just chose our favorites and worked off of that. We did fittings and updated them and made them a bit more suitable for today’s customer and that was kind of it. It was super easy and seamless and we worked so well because we both have an aligned vision and taste.”
As Sporty & Rich is rooted in sports — the brand has released several tennis collections, including an ongoing collaboration with Prince Tennis — the collection leverages many of Lacoste’s own tennis-inspired archival styles.
Pieces include a white pleated tennis skirt, a light blue halter crop top and matching shorts and several polo shirts. The pieces merge Sporty & Rich’s iconography with Lacoste’s well-known crocodile logo.
“I personally love the halter top and mini short set just because that’s kind of a very unique style for a tennis line,” Oberg said about the standout pieces in the collection. “It’s obviously not as functional as maybe the tennis wear of today, but I think it looks super cool. I think the collection in general is tennis-slash-holiday, so I think all of the pieces are things that you’d wear on holiday, but also on the court.”
Collaborations have been a big part of Sporty & Rich’s business since the brand launched roughly five years ago. The brand has embarked on collaborations with Solid & Striped, Adidas, Clark’s and others. Sporty & Rich’s second collaboration with Adidas is slated to be released next month.
“[Collaborations are] a really important part of our brand just because I think it’s always better when two brands come together,” Oberg said. “I think it’s much stronger. This shared vision of working together is such a fun and exciting thing for both sides always. I think we were able to bring two different perspectives to the table and just create something bigger than what we could create on our own.”
This is also Lacoste’s latest collaboration this year. Last month, the fashion label teamed with Netflix to create a collection inspired by the streaming service’s popular TV shows, such as “Bridgerton” and “Stranger Things.” The fashion label is also celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.
The Lacoste x Sporty & Rich collection ranges in price from $20 to $210 and will be available starting Wednesday in Lacoste stores and online.
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