Lacoste Transforms Crocodile Logo Into A Goat To Honor Novak Djokovic
Images via BETC Paris and Andrei Antipov | Dreamstime.com
Ahead of the US Open, Lacoste has made a rare change to its heritage logo. For more than eight years Novak Djokovic has worn the crocodile on his chest. Now the brand is returning the favor by reworking its emblem into a goat, temporarily rebranding the reptile to tip its cap to the “Greatest of All Time.” The playful transformation arrives as part of a global campaign and a capsule collection that puts the tennis legend front and center.
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Djokovic has been one of Lacoste’s most prominent ambassadors for nearly a decade, racking up 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles while representing the brand. To commemorate him, Lacoste and creative agency BETC Paris put together From a Crocodile to the GOAT, a campaign and five-piece selection consisting of a polo, T-shirt, tracksuit jacket, cap, and trousers—all stamped with a special goat emblem.
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
The collection has been released in select markets worldwide and arrives alongside a series of bold posters showing Djokovic on each court surface where he has claimed victories: clay, grass, hard, and indoor.
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Lacoste has also chosen to involve the fans who saw Djokovic’s greatness early. On X (formerly Twitter), the brand revisited decade-old tweets that already crowned him the GOAT, responding directly to those posts and rewarding fans with items from the collection. Some of these early supporters even appear in the launch video, nodding to the community that championed him from the beginning.
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Djokovic’s record more than justifies the fanfare. With 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any male player, he has also spent the longest time ranked world No. 1, logged the most Grand Slam match wins, and remains the only player to secure every Masters 1000 tournament at least twice.
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
The celebration was anchored in New York, where Djokovic personally unveiled the line last Friday at Lacoste’s Fifth Avenue flagship. The setting carries historical resonance: it was in the United States that René Lacoste earned his own “Crocodile” nickname and where he captured back-to-back national championships in the 1920s.
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
"We were looking for a strong symbol to celebrate the great career of Novak. From a Crocodile to The Goat symbolizes the work ethic, the resilience, the determination that is needed in order to reach the status of legend,” notes Olivier Aumard, executive creative director at BETC. “This collection also belongs to the very first fans, those who believed in Novak and referred to him as the GOAT since the start of his tennis career.”
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
Image courtesy of BETC Paris and featured with permission
[via BETC Paris, images courtesy and featured with permission]
