Bernard Lacoste


Bernard Lacoste was a French fashion designer and businessman.

Biography

Born in Paris on 22 June 1931, Bernard Lacoste was the son of René Lacoste, the founder of the fashion company Lacoste. He attended high school in France and earned the Bachelor of Science at Princeton University in the USA. From February 1954 until February 1956 he was a Lieutenant in the French Air Force. From 1956 until 1963 he worked at General Motors in France.
In 1964, he took the position as head of the internationally known company Lacoste. When he took over the company, it was producing ca 300,000 articles of clothing per year. In 2005, the figure was almost 50 million, which were sold in 110 countries. The company had a gross revenue of billions of US dollars.
In March 2002, he gave over direction of the company to his brother Michel Lacoste due to poor health. Six months later, he died after a long illness at the age of 74.

Awards