Hisotry of the Polo Shirt by Andy Gilchrist
The polo shirt is a knitted sport shirt in a pullover style with short sleeves, a rolled collar and buttons at the neck opening. They are usually made from 100% cotton, and found in a variety of knits, the most common are:
Pique (pee-kay) -- a durable, raised design (typically waffle), "Pique" is from the French verb "piquer" meaning "to pierce". Also called "mesh".
Interlock – smooth, firm texture, with good elasticity
Lisle – two-ply cotton yarn of long staple fibers, which are combed, tightly twisted giving it a very silky soft hand. "Lisle" is derived from an early spelling of Lille, France
The original polo shirt, the first shirt named for a specific sport, was introduced in the mid 19 th century and was made of worsted wool. Called a “jersey” since it was knitted on the Isle of Jersey, off the coast of England. The shirts were worn for football (soccer), rowing and other sports.
Polo, the game, was first played in 7 th century Persia, and then moved around the Orient for a few centuries. It's name came from India where it was played with a wooden ball called in Tibetan a “pulu”. Of course, the occupying British transported the game home from India. In Victorian times the proper attire for polo consisted of white flannel trousers, a white tennis sweater (meant to induce sweat!), worn over a white shirt with a straight collar (later to be buttoned down to keep the collar out of players faces).
White wool jersey shirts eventually replaced the old polo button-down shirts. The jerseys pulled over the head, had turned-down or rolled collars, long sleeves, and buttons descending five inches down the front of the collar. For decades this shirt reigned on the polo fields of Richmond Park and Hurlingham.
At the turn of the last century the rules demanded that tennis be played in long-sleeved dress shirts as well as a necktie. Thanks to French tennis champion Rene Lacoste the jersey knit short sleeve shirt was introduced to tennis in 1926. He also is credited with the invention of the ball machine and the steel racquet (the T-2000 first marketed in 1967). Lacoste was nicknamed “Le Crocodile”. Thus the famous logo, which is not an alligator! The name may have come from the press for his prowess on the court, or a reference to his rather large nose. Another story is that it's from his boast to teammates, during a 1923 trip to the U. S., that when he wins his matches, he'll buy an expensive crocodile suitcase he noticed in a store window. He loses, doesn't buy the bag, and in jest his teammates call him “Le Crocodile”.
The original shirt that Lacoste had designed for himself was a white Pique knit, with a small ribbed collar, short sleeves with ribbed bands, and a slightly longer shirt tail so that it would not pullout during active sports. He based the design on the long sleeve polo shirt, itself a successor to the button down shirt originally worn by polo players.
An artist friend, Robert George, drew the crocodile emblem in 1926 and Lacoste had it embroidered on a blazer. Lacoste retired in 1929 and decided to market his shirt with the famous emblem. It was introduced to the public in 1933 in France, but wasn't sold in the USA until 1952. President Eisenhower began wearing the shirt for his highly publicized golf games. By the 1930's knit shirts were all the rage for men at big name resorts, and by the 1950's and 1960's they were popular for men, women and children. Rene Lacoste passed away October 12, 1996.
The polo shirt (small p, unless it’s the first word in a sentence) refers to a type of shirt, and not Marco Polo nor the name of Ralph Lauren’s company, although Ralph Lauren/Polo does market his very famous polo shirt. See History.
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