Lacoste launches Polo Merci solidarity shirt for Red Cross and Red Crescent

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 28, 2020

Lacoste has launched a limited edition Polo Merci soft-collar shirt, whose proceeds will go the Red Cross and Red Crescent, helping associations and volunteers in the pandemic.
 
Designed by Lacoste's Creative Director Louise Trotter, the shirt is named the L.12.12 Polo Merci, a solidarity product that begins retailing on May 28 in Europe; and in Lacoste stores worldwide. As for the brand’s website, the product will launch from June 1.

 
The new shirt plays on Lacoste’s iconic crocodile logo embroidering a heart around its instantly recognizable emblem.  L.12.12 Polo Merci retails at 130 Euros.
 
“Reinterpreting the iconic Lacoste polo shirt by wrapping it in a simple red heart seemed to us the best way to show our admiration for those committed to saving lives during this pandemic,” said Trotter.

The turnover from each sale of the L.12.12 Polo Merci, named after its classic cut polo, will be donated in full to the Lacoste Fund, which supports the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world. 
 
Since March, backed up by voluntary work from its own employees, Lacoste has produced more than 200,000 fabric masks in its factories in France and Argentina – and distributed them to local authorities and stakeholders.
 
“The L.12.12 Polo Merci is in line with the brand's continued commitment in this unprecedented health crisis. This solidarity action illustrates how fashion can, at its own level, act in solidarity to serve the most exposed people," added Lacoste CEO Thierry Guibert.