History Of The Polo

The origin of the Polo Shirt takes us back to the late 19th Century in India where polo, the sport, was first started. Some lads from jolly ‘ol England brought the sport and, the polo style shirt back home where it was then seen by the grandson of the Brooks Brothers Family who produced the first “Original Polo Shirt”. The polo shirt as we know it today, however, was created by professional tennis player bad bitch, Rene Lacoste.

Rene Lacoste was not feeling the overly formal and stiff tennis attire of the day, so in 1926, he developed a short sleeve polo shirt made of mesh pique. Mesh Pique is more breathable than tennis apparel at the time and had stretch for movement. He finished off his design with the now famous crocodile patch logo, which was inspired by Lacoste’s nickname, “The Crocodile.” The Crocodile nickname was given to him by the tennis press at the time because of his large-and-in-charge nose (pre-internet body shaming at its finest). He wore this now famous polo shirt to the U.S. Open that year, a tournament that he ended up winning. Due to the newfound functionality of the shirt as well as the free press from winning the U.S. Open, the Lacoste polo shirt was soon in high demand. Within a few years Lacoste was a full clothing line with the polo as its key product and the iconic Lacoste Crocodile as its mascot.

Over the next 50 years, the world saw a variety of designs with different colors and styles of the polo shirt. The next notable addition to the history of the polo came from yet another tennis star, Fred Perry. Perry’s polos were the first to directly embroider the branding into the shirt while still using the classic pique material Lacoste used. Soon after, many brands starting making their own polos, and soon the shirts were being worn by sweaty vacationers, high school gym coaches, dads at BBQs, and when you need to borrow something to wear when the crew wears pink on Wednesdays.

In the early 1970’s, Ralph Lauren started Polo by Ralph Lauren, with one of its essential pieces being the iconic polo shirt with the polo player logo embroidered on the chest. Although, for the record the image of a polo player used as a logo was first used by in Argentina by the professional polo player Lewis Lacey, but that’s none of my business (**sips tea).

Through the 80’s, 90’s, and Early 2000’s, the polo trend went in and out of fashion and popularity. The polo trend still resonates strongly with people who wear clothes today. Brands like Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister sold polo shirts to every teenage boy and girl while simultaneously becoming the official uniform for frat bros across the world. This particular spike in polo shirt’s popularity is responsible for producing style moments forever burned into our memory like the layered popped collar polos (which is both cringe-worthy as well as a personal favorite).

Skaters have been the latest to celebrate the heritage of this classic style. Here at CCS we have given our own take on the normcore classic. The CCS Nested Polos are made out of a cozy jersey material with a knit collar and embroidered Nested logo which we have brought back from our 90’s catalog. The polos are perfect for brunch with Mom or stacking clips with the crew. Pick up your CCS polo here.