BRAND STUDY 30 / 64

Lacoste Green

Lacoste · Fashion (1933)

#004526 Brand Tone round

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Color anatomy

The exact scoring color for this Brand Tone card.

HEX: #004526

RGB: 0, 69, 38

HSB: 153°, 100%, 27%

HSL: 153°, 100%, 14%

Nearby tones to compare against

#00452F

#00451D

#08452A

#004526

#002112

Why this color matters

Lacoste green is easy to replace with any dark sportswear green. The card asks for something more exact: #004526, a deep, fully saturated green with a cool blue lean and low brightness. The crocodile is the clue, but the colour only makes sense when you remember what it was sewn onto — a white tennis blazer, then the polo shirt that changed sportswear.

The crocodile arrived before the company

In Boston in 1923, an American journalist turned René Lacoste's lost suitcase bet into a nickname: “the crocodile”, a tribute to his tenacity on court. René encouraged it. In 1927, his friend Robert George embroidered a crocodile on the white blazer Lacoste wore before matches. Lacoste the company came later, in 1933, founded with André Gillier.

The nickname was quickly adopted throughout the tennis world.
Lacoste, Our history — the 1923 crocodile story

1933: a logo leaves the inside label

The 1933 partnership made the crocodile visible in a new way. René's flexible, lightweight “petit piqué” polo carried the emblem on the chest, and Lacoste describes the company as the first brand to feature a logo on clothing. The green crocodile therefore reads as part of a garment system: white cotton, a small stitched animal and a colour that can survive both the court and the street.

The exact green behind the crocodile

The scoring reference is RGB 0/69/38 — HSB(153°, 100%, 27%), rounded to whole numbers. Green is the strongest channel, blue is present and red is absent, so the hue sits 33° beyond pure green at 120° towards cyan at 180°. Full saturation does not make it bright: 27% HSB brightness keeps this green deep and cool. A player who remembers “tennis green” may drift toward a sunnier leaf green; a flag-memory shortcut can pull it toward a brighter emerald.

A sports colour, not a paint chip

Lacoste's official history ties the crocodile to optimism, passion, elegance, bravery and tenacity, while its brand materials call the emblem an iconic green crocodile. Those values explain why the colour feels athletic and assured, but they do not publish a universal digital hex for every garment. In this game, use the crocodile-on-white scene as the anchor, then separate the target from Nigeria, Portugal and Brazil in the comparison strip.

Lacoste green beside the greens memory might substitute

#004526Lacoste Green — target

#008753Nigeria outer bands — brighter, more cyan

#006600Portugal hoist — brighter, pure-green hue, no blue channel

#229E45Brazil field — brighter, more yellow

Quick facts

Target#004526 · RGB 0/69/38 · HSB 153°/100%/27% — Lacoste Green
OriginRené Lacoste's 1923 “crocodile” nickname; Robert George embroidered it in 1927
Not interchangeableA bright tennis green or a flag emerald; the target is deep, fully saturated and blue-leaning
Logo milestone1933: the crocodile appeared on René's petit piqué polo, founded with André Gillier
Reads aswhite cotton · court confidence · the stitched green crocodile

Trademark notice

The brand names and logos used in Brand Tone are trademarks of their respective owners. Brand Tone is an independent fan-made color memory game and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any featured brand.