The Lacoste crocodile is leaving its iconic spot

French fashion brand label Lacoste has swapped out it’s iconic crocodile identity for 10 limited edition polo shirts featuring the world’s most threatened species. The partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Save Our Species (SOS) sees the label showing support in the fight against the extinction of endangered animals. Those animals include the Vaquita dolphin, Burmese roofed turtle, Northern sportive lemur, Javan rhino, Cao vit gibbon, Kakapo parrot, California condor, the Saola, Sumatran tiger, and the Anegada ground iguana.

The number of polo shirts produced for each species reflects each animals population size left in the wild. From example the Californian porpoise has only 30 left in the world.

“The Vaquita, or Gulf of California porpoise, is a solitary sea mammal that enjoys swimming at a leisurely pace in shallow waters. It weighs around 48 kilos on average and measures 1.5 meter in length. It is a critically endangered species due to shrimp gillnets in which it can get entangled”.

“The Cao-vit Gibbon is one of the rarest in the world. Despite weighing between 5 and 10 kilos, the gibbon can swing from branch to branch with great agility. This gibbon can be found in a forest located at the border of China and Vietnam, where deforestation reduces its habitat”.

Lacoste is raising awareness of the plight of these endangered species and all profits for the sale of these polo shirts will benefit the IUCN.

A great way of raising awareness of the seriousness of endangered species worldwide, and a unique way of changing up a brand’s 85-year-old iconic logo – the first time it has ever initiated a logo change by replacing the famous croc. I think these alternative animal logos work really well as a replacement of the croc for an awareness campaign important to our time. The designs have been created in the same embroidered green style as the crocodile, so much so I wonder how many people will notice the subtle change in animal or whether the missing croc will be overlooked.

The designs were launched recently at Paris Fashion Week 2018.

For more information: https://www.lacoste.com/gb/saveourspecies.html

Video and images courtesy of Lacoste