Scores
6.9C€€€ → €€ on sale
- Quality
- 7/10
- Design
- 6/10
- Appeal
- 8/10
Usually €80–150
What to buy, and what to skip
StrongPolo
Usually €95–120Buy at or below €70
The L.12.12 petit piqué is the reference polo. Tight fine knit, keeps its collar, and reviewers report it looking better worn in over years.
DecentShirts
Usually €130–150Buy at or below €70
The dearest shirt on this page and the one you wait longest for. The fibre is honest — the linen shirts say 100% on the ticket, the flax is French-grown, the buttons are mother-of-pearl and the croc is embroidered rather than printed, which is exactly the disclosure U.S. Polo Assn. refuses to make on a rack of “linen blend” at half this money. The price is the problem. German stores list at €129.95–149.95 and the third-party racks only take about a quarter off, which is €97–112 for a shirt Massimo Dutti sells at €50; it takes Lacoste's own twice-yearly −50% to bring a €140 shirt to €70, and that is the only number worth acting on. Read the name here the same way you read it at Mango, because a “Linen Blend Overshirt” and a “Slim Fit Cotton and Linen Shirt” hang on the same wall and the cotton-linen tees are 74/26. Decent rather than strong because every shirt above it is cheaper — Massimo Dutti at €50 on sale, Mango at €59.99 on the ticket with a 100% LEINEN filter to prove it, Marc O'Polo at €65 — and nothing about this one is better than the €50 shirt. The gap is the crocodile.
DecentKnitwear
Usually €100–150Buy at or below €75
Cotton crews are solid; nothing special versus the price.
DecentShorts
Usually €80–130Buy at or below €65
A broad current range, but not a specialist bargain. The official Irish men's category shows 179 results spanning €80 fleece, €90 cotton seersucker, €100 denim, €110 stretch cotton and €110 linen-blend twill, with many styles already 30–50% off. The readable linen example is only 61% linen with 31% rayon and 8% polyester at €84 from €120; it adds an elastic drawcord waist, Italian pockets and welted back pockets, but not a pure-linen argument. Buy a clean cotton, seersucker or linen-led pair around €55–70 after the markdown. Mango's 100% linen at €49.99 is the harder value benchmark, while Lacoste earns extra only when its fit, texture or petit-croc restraint is exactly what you want.
DecentFootwear
Usually €80–120Buy at or below €60
Court sneakers are fine but unremarkable for the money.
AvoidT-Shirts
Logo tees are the weakest value in the range — you're buying the crocodile only.
AvoidSweats & Hoodies
There are honest 100% organic-cotton basics, but they cost €140; the heavy organic/recycled-cotton fleece is €160, while the €150 zip is 84/16 cotton–recycled polyester. That is expensive logo fleece, not the durable piqué archetype that makes the polo special. The heavy version gives you a loose shoulder and tonal croc, not a construction or fabric leap over Marc O'Polo's €50–60 sale cotton. Buy an exact 100% cotton heavy piece around €90–100 after a 30–40% reduction only if the croc and fit are the point; otherwise keep the Lacoste spend in polos.
On the design score
The one you couldn't place, and that's the honest answer. Lacoste designed a garment in 1933 and has barely touched it since — either the highest form of design or an absence of it, depending on what you're asking the axis to measure. The 6 records the uncertainty; it isn't a criticism.
Who owns it
MF Brands Group (Switzerland)
Also owned by MF Brands Group
How this was judged
Researched. Confidence high, checked 2026-08.
Wardrobe Ledger is an independent clothing research project and is not affiliated with the brands listed.