Lacoste
French, owned by the Swiss MF Brands Group. The L.12.12 polo costs 110 € and states the same 100 % cotton as a 17.95 € t-shirt.
Lacoste
- Origin
- France
- Founded
- Not disclosed
- Group
- MF Brands Group
- Production
- Not disclosed
- Core materials
- Baumwolle
- Price level
- 3/4
How much this brand discloses, and how much of it we could verify. It is not a quality rating — a composition line cannot tell you how good a fabric is.
- Production disclosure 0/25
- Linked sources 12/20
- Own material check 15/15
- Fabric weight stated 0/12
- Country stated per product 10/10
- Construction detail stated 0/10
- Cost breakdown published 0/8
Evidence for the price About what this price band usually documents
The L.12.12 and the limits of a label
On 27 July 2026 we read the composition of the Lacoste L.12.12 Classic Fit polo: cotton, 100 %. Its price is 110 €. Earlier the same day we read a Zara t-shirt: cotton, 100 %, at 17.95 €.
Set side by side, those two composition lines are identical, and the price differs by a factor of six. Anyone shopping by fibre content alone has no way to tell the two apart — which is the single most useful thing we can say about reading labels.
What is actually being sold here
The L.12.12 is unusual in that its whole proposition is the construction rather than the fibre. Lacoste states that the fabric, Petit Piqué, was created in 1933 for this specific polo — a textured, breathable knit rather than a plain jersey. That construction, not the cotton, is what the brand asks 110 € for.
And a composition field has no way to express it. “Cotton 100 %” is the correct and complete answer to the question the field asks. It simply is not the question a buyer of this garment is asking.
When the construction is the product, the composition line is the least informative thing on the page.
French brand, Swiss owner
Lacoste is French in origin and identity, and owned from Switzerland. The Swiss family group Maus Frères — which renamed itself MF Brands Group in 2020 — took full control in 2012, having built its position through Devanlay, Lacoste’s long-standing manufacturer and distributor.
The same group holds Gant, Aigle, The Kooples and Tecnifibre. As with Massimo Dutti, the point is not that foreign ownership diminishes a brand — it is that national identity and ownership are two different facts, and only one of them appears in the marketing.
What we could not establish
Two figures we look for were not on the product page: the country the garment is made in, and the fabric weight. Both stay empty in our directory rather than being estimated. For a garment whose selling point is its knit, a stated weight would have been the single most useful number — and it is not published.
What we can document
- Owner: MF Brands Group (Switzerland), full control since 2012
- Group renamed from Maus Frères International in 2020
- Composition of the L.12.12 read at source: cotton 100 %, 110 €
- Fabric named by the brand as Petit Piqué, created 1933 for this polo
What we cannot
- Country of manufacture — not stated on the product page we read
- Fabric weight — not published, though the knit is the selling point
- Whether the 110 € reflects construction, brand or both — not separable from outside
- A public factory list — none found in our research
Where to buy Lacoste
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Lacoste
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Sources
3 in total · archived internally- Produktseite L.12.12 Classic Fit — Zusammensetzung „Baumwolle (100 %)", 110 €, Petit Pique — Lacoste Deutschland Read 27 July 2026
- Umbenennung Maus Frères International zu MF Brands Group, Markenportfolio — FashionUnited Read 27 July 2026
- Vollständige Übernahme durch Maus Frères 2012, Weg über Devanlay — WWD Read 27 July 2026
Reader reviews of Lacoste
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Questions readers ask
Who owns Lacoste?
The Swiss group MF Brands Group, formerly Maus Frères International, which took full control in 2012. The same group holds Gant, Aigle, The Kooples and Tecnifibre.
Is Lacoste still French?
French in origin and identity, Swiss in ownership. Both are true and they are separate facts.
Why does a 100 % cotton polo cost 110 €?
Not because of the fibre — a 17.95 € t-shirt in our sample states the same. Lacoste sells the knit: Petit Piqué, which it says was created in 1933 for this polo. Whether that construction is worth the difference is a judgement we cannot make for you; we did not test the garment.
Where is the L.12.12 made?
The product page we read does not say. We leave the field empty rather than guessing.
What is Petit Piqué?
A textured cotton knit rather than a smooth jersey, giving the polo its characteristic surface and breathability. It is a construction, which is why it never appears in a composition statement.