Lacoste and Smiley link-up for China-focused collection

Lacoste has teamed up with Smiley for the first collab between the two and it launches this month with a focus on the key Chinese market.

The new Lacoste x Smiley offer “fuses sport and style, tennis and smiles — presenting a distinctively bold and joyfully collection. It transforms French sporty fashion into a vibrant and dynamic lifestyle: love court, love smile”.

Smiley said that “tennis is a lifestyle, not just a sport. A smile is more than just an expression, it’s an attitude towards life” and the new collab “blends the iconic elements of both brands. It creatively deconstructs tennis apparel with a playful touch”.

That means a new logo in which the signature Smiley transforms into a tennis ball. The Lacoste crocodile holds the Smiley ball, “signalling the start of a new game of smiles”. And the round Smiley replaces the ‘O’ in Lacoste, “injecting playfulness into tennis”.

The collab is clearly focused on integrating tennis-wear into daily live and on the fact that “tennis is not only a sport, but also an enjoyable pastime, that can be embraced with friends and family”.

It also makes the most of the trend for tennis styles among young Chinese consumers who are the key target group for labels from the mass-market through premium and luxury brands.

The collab includes items such as a tennis skirt, polo shirt, shorts, hoodies, T-shirts, caps and more “to create the tennis core, court style”. There’s also a “creative collection of asymmetrical designed plaid shirts, duckbill caps adorned with the new logo, and jackets with stitched detail”.

The pieces are available at Lacoste’s stores in China, via the official WeChat mini-program store, the Tmall official flagship store and the Lacoste Douyin official flagship store.