Inhabitat » LACOSTE ECO POLO by Tom Dixon

February 18, 2007

LACOSTE ECO POLO by Tom Dixon

by Adele Chong

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Tom Dixon deftly combines smart green design with old school chic in his recent contemporary take on Lacoste’s iconic polo shirt. Primarily concerned with the ‘provenance and craft’ of manufactured materials, Dixon’s visits to Nigeria and India and the unique hand-dyeing techniques he witnessed there reportedly helped inspire his innovation versions of the polo shirt. Eco Polo relies on chemical-free indigo dyes and rougher edges on its sleeves for its hip, slightly ‘distressed’ appeal, whereas his other new polo design: Techno Polo is composed of lurex fibers and cotton amalgamated with high-tech weaving techniques to create a look that’s just right for either breaking out the tennis racket or hitting the a nightclub.

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The world-renowned sportswear giant Lacoste recently introduced their Holiday Collection Series - whereby a designer outside of the fashion world is selected to devise a new way of interpreting their most classic garment. Being the first chosen designer of the limited edition series, Dixon decided to conceptualize his designs based a more industrialist viewpoint – an approach certainly well suited to Lacoste’s penchant for churning out well-engineered textile products as well as his own extensive background in product and furniture design.

+ Eco Polo

Ecopolo by Lacoste, Lacoste's new Eco Polo, Tom Dixon Eco Polo pour Lacoste, eco-friendly polo shirt, green polo, sustainable polo shirt

9 Responses to “LACOSTE ECO POLO by Tom Dixon”

Thibaut Says:

February 19th, 2007 at 8:58 am

Is it eco friendly to sell a polo shirt in a box, even if it’s made from recycled materials, when it could be shipped without, thus lowering the CO2 footprint of the product ?
No.
Or maybe I’m missing something ?
Please give me a clue, because from where I stand, I see none.
Thank you.

Greg Says:

February 19th, 2007 at 11:52 am

It seems big business is showing itselve. Big GREEN business that is.
And as always, when emerging markets are based on profitbased fundamentals, business starts booming. GREEN business is booming.
I really do not care too much, let someone else be the jury, or the judge. Just do what you can. The way you present it may differ from product to product and from company to company. A luxery (green) packing for a GREEN product seems logic however.
Enjoy the GREEN as a GIFT as long as GREEN is still trendy and seemingly not a bare neccessatity….
Even than, try to keep your JOY…

Ujaya Says:

February 19th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

That’s exactly what I thought when I saw this, how eco friendly is the unnecessary packaging? Who needs a box or a vacuum pack for a shirt?

ideometric Says:

February 21st, 2007 at 3:51 am

To put the packaging in perspective, I work at a major clothing company’s retail store. When we receive shipment of new clothes every week, every item is individually wrapped in plastic to protect it during shipping. Sometimes these individually wrapped items are then consolidated and wrapped together with more plastic. We go through large amounts of plastic and cardboard boxes every week, and we’re a small store.

At worst, my guess is that the packaging on these polos is no worse than the norm.

cameron Says:

February 21st, 2007 at 6:21 pm

how about somebody comes up with a more effective way to ship clothing then? selling any clothing pre-packaged is not a sustainable option. if the packaging is required for shipping, and they really want to be green, why not produce the items locally, then they won’t need to be shipped as far.

Triple bottom line = environmental + social + financial

someonescoat Says:

February 22nd, 2007 at 6:01 am

Shipping clothing in little plastic bundles is preposterous and wasteful. I can understand the desire to protect the clothes but surely they can all be packed together in one piece, at the very least?

And as for the vacuum packaging, I find it repulsive and ridiculous. I am so incredibly tired of big business trying to go green and getting it so blatantly wrong. I am currently at the design indaba in south africa and I ashamed to admit that the complimentary books we recieved are printed with spot colours up the wazoo! Every. Single. Page.
But they are planting trees, and the *say* they are green, so I guess it must be true!

Green is beginning to become nothing more than a slick marketing catchphrase.
Ugh.

aeiouxSchemata Says:

May 18th, 2007 at 8:15 pm

Couldn’t agree more, this is shameful design which totally misses the point : i’m sure a designer like Tom Dixon has heard ‘the best design is simplicity’ but seems to have slipped him by. Imagine either of these products being purchased as a gift for an individual : it doesn’t fit : the purchaser returns it to the store, now unsealed (admittedly the eco-polo packaging could be reclosed, but surely this would damage easily and therefore be more likely discarded/rejected over an undamaged pack) : more waste is generated. A truly pure piece of eco clothing design is a) one that is created using natural materials, by hand with minimal energy useage/chemical by-products, b) shipped/stored in as eco-friendly manner as is feasible and c) demands that the customer obtains/carries the product in an eco-friendly manner (re-useable carrier bag, or even none at all)?

Imagine that : buying an eco-shirt in a shop and being told you could not be given a bag to take it away in : makes sense to me.

rgds
aeioux schemata [uk]