PARIS – Fashion brand Lacoste’s iconic crocodile is being replaced with rare reptiles, birds, and mammals for a limited run of shirts to raise awareness regarding endangered species.
The French clothing brand released 10 limited edition polo shirts featuring ten critically endangered animals from around the world including Asia, launched at Paris Fashion Week last Wednesday. Proceeds went to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which turns 70 this year.
The number produced of each series corresponds to the population size estimated to be remaining in the wild according to experts at IUCN.
The 10 species represented and the number of shirts produced:
Vaquita (Gulf of California porpoise): 30
Burmese roofed turtle: 40
Northern sportive lemur: 50
Javan rhino: 67
Cao-vit gibbon (ape): 150
Kakapo (parrot): 157
California condor: 231
Saola (herbivore): 250
Sumatran tiger: 350
Anegada ground iguana: 450
Lacoste had shared the animal-saving initiative on their official Twitter handle:
https://twitter.com/LACOSTE/status/968855810791981057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E968855810791981057&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajc.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Flacoste-temporarily-replaces-crocodile-logo-with-endangered-species%2FmN46FwU7YlxZrIfAPk8DZM%2F
“The Lacoste crocodile is one of the world’s most iconic logos, proudly displayed on the brand’s famous polos for the past 85 years,” said Lacoste in a statement. “For the first time in the brand’s history BETC has initiated a change of the logo”.
https://twitter.com/IUCN/status/968835753542373377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E968835753542373377&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajc.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Flacoste-temporarily-replaces-crocodile-logo-with-endangered-species%2FmN46FwU7YlxZrIfAPk8DZM%2F
Only 1775 of the polos were produced in total, and have already sold out, however, people can still donate to the Save Our Species campaign, spearheaded by French advertising agency BETC to help prevent the extinction of endangered species.
Lacoste will partner with IUCN for the next three years.
Lacoste is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste and André Gillier. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels, and watches.
The company can be recognized by its green crocodile logo. René Lacoste, the company’s founder, was nicknamed “the Crocodile” by fans because of his tenacity on the tennis court.
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