Lacoste has swapped its distinctive crocodile logo for one of 10 threatened animal species on a series of limited-edition polo shirts, designed to bring attention to the global state of biodiversity.
The limited edition Lacoste x Save Our Species polo shirts, which feature endangered animals such as the Sumatran Tiger and the Anegada Rock Iguana in place of the famous crocodile, were launched during the brand's runway show at Paris Fashion Week on 1 March 2018 and sold out immediately.
For each species, the number of polo shirts produced corresponds to the number of individuals known to remain in the wild. For instance, the most limited run features The Gulf of California porpoise, of which there are only 30 left in the wild, while the brand made 450 shirts featuring the Cyclone of Anegada Island – an iguana from the British Virgin Island.
The French brand made 1,775 polo shirts in total.
Proceeds from the sale of the shirts will be donated to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a 70-year-old international organisation working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
The Save Our Species collaboration, which was initiated by French advertising agency BETC, will help the charity to coordinate frontline projects worldwide in order to help ensure the long-term survival of threatened species, their habitats and the people who depend on them.
"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 the Lacoste in a statement. "For the first time in the brand's history BETC has initiated a change of the logo."
"Lacoste and BETC worked closely with IUCN's experts to define and select ten threatened species, whose animals have been designed by the Lacoste studio to create the logos, adopting exactly the same embroidery approach as the historic Crocodile," it continued.
The Lacoste x Save Our Species polo shirts mark the beginning of a three-year partnership between the brand and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The collaboration is not the first time Lacoste has altered its famous logo. The French fashion brand has previously enlisted graphic designer Peter Saville and Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana to create ranges of polo shirts that play with the embroidered crocodiles.