Located on the Champs-Élysées, the Lacoste Polo Factory stages the “manufacturing secrets” of the iconic polo shirt. As part of our retail tours, the Lemens & Partners team visited the Lacoste flagship on the Champs-Élysées.
Heritage at the heart of the scenography
It all begins with one iconic garment: the L.12.12 polo shirt, created in 1933 by René Lacoste. For over 90 years, it has remained fundamentally unchanged. And it is precisely on this permanence that Lacoste builds its story. The polo is displayed as one would frame a great athlete’s shirt protected, carefully spotlit, and treated as a piece of heritage in its own right.
Around it, the scenography unfolds the behind-the-scenes of its creation: design sketches, production stages, material selection.
Personalisation as an extension of the experience
Through the My Lacoste Customisation service, each visitor can personalise their polo shirt on the spot : colour choice, crocodile style, embroidered initials. The piece is made in front of you and ready to collect on the same day. You do not leave with a standard product. You leave with something entirely unique, with the distinct feeling of having co-created it yourself.
It is a simple but powerful promise: turning a purchase into a personal and singular experience.
Community as a driver of loyalty
Lacoste takes this thinking even further with its members programme. Lacoste accessories and products, exclusive benefits, a personalisable polo, reserved surprises, being a Lacoste member means accessing a different kind of relationship with the brand, one that is made tangible inside the store itself.
What Lacoste has understood is this: loyalty cannot be bought. It is built.
What this tells us about the future of retail
The Polo Factory is not a one-off concept Lacoste is rolling it out across its flagships worldwide. Transparency around craftsmanship, heritage brought to life, product personalisation, community activated in-store: these are the levers that brands wishing to remain desirable must master today. And to do so, choosing the right creative talent has become indispensable.
Retail tours have become essential for tracking trends, innovating and drawing inspiration. Lemens & Partners analyses global retail movements through the lens of your strategic challenges, observing what works elsewhere to help shape the retail of tomorrow.
We design and lead bespoke retail tours with our international experts. The field is an endless source of ideas.
Get in touch to organise your next retail tour.