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Long before Challengers made tennis sexy, the Lacoste polo shirt made it stylish. Around a century ago, French racquet phenom René Lacoste, fatefully nicknamed “The crocodile”, popularized the polo shirt as we know it, as a way to blend hard-wearing performance with easy-going style. Almost 100 years later, the brand that bears his name still makes one of the best versions of the product category it invented. (For proof, just ask Jeremy Allen White.)
In 2024, Lacoste’s signature design still features its telltale short button placket, elegant collar, and ribbed sleeves, done up in a now-legendary cotton pique fabric that has endeared it to prepsters and punks in equal measure. It’s sturdy and soft, beefy but breathable, and a testament to the brand’s sovereignty decades into its reign. “When I think of the polo shirt,” says GQ senior commerce editor Avidan Grossman, “I think of Lacoste. It’s as simple as that.” He’s been wearing Lacoste’s genre-defining pique polo on and off for decades, and touts its crisp feel, timeless look, and universally flattering cut.
One element of the Lacoste polo shirt that has changed since it was introduced? The price. These days, The Crocodile’s hero product costs about $110, a relative steal for a bona fide piece of menswear history, but, we imagine, a smidge more than when it debuted.
A hundred bucks or so is chump change if you're Jeremy Allen White, but if your budget skews more Patrick Zweig than Art Donaldson, we've got great news: thanks to a happy glitch in Amazon's matrix, Lacoste's history-making pique number is $45, a discount so steep you can buy two for less coin than one at full price. It's available in a veritable Crayola's box of colors, but the navy option, the only hue you'll ever need, just so happens to enjoy the steepest markdown. We can't guarantee wearing it will win you Zendaya's heart—or, like, an Emmy—but we can guarantee you won't find a better deal this season. [Tennis announcer voice] That's love, baby.