Children's Le Tigre Fashion Brand

Le Tigre stands third in the L hub's listing order, and its story is a complete rise, fall and comeback. First offered in 1977, Le Tigre polos sported a leaping tiger in lieu of Lacoste's signature crocodile. Le Tigre is an American brand of apparel designed to rival Lacoste in styling. Those three sentences are the brand's whole premise: a 1977 debut, a polo shirt carrying a leaping tiger where its rival carried a crocodile, and an American brand created deliberately to rival Lacoste in styling. The children's profile exists because that polo story reached kids' wardrobes too.

Le Tigre had become popular during the later 1980s; celebrities from Wilt Chamberlain, LL Cool J, and even Ronald Reagan were seen wearing the tiger. That celebrity record - a basketball great, a rap star and a president - shows how far the tiger travelled in its popular years. A brand history and a shirt-making note follow below.

Out of Production Through the 1990s, Comeback in 2003

The brand made a comeback in 2003, after being out of production through the 1990s. That sentence gives the story its shape: a brand popular in the later 1980s, absent from production for a whole decade, then returning in 2003. The company is based in New York City. A New York base is the only address-level fact documented. For a children's shopper, a comeback history like this one explains why a label can feel both vintage and current at once - the tiger a parent remembers from the 1980s is the same tiger offered again after 2003.

Le Tigre had been a subsidiary of Kenneth Cole Productions since 2007. The brand was then purchased by Infinity Lifestyle Brands and Hilco Brands in November 2015. Those two ownership facts close the history, with their dates precise: subsidiary of Kenneth Cole Productions from 2007, then purchased in November 2015 by Infinity Lifestyle Brands and Hilco Brands together. Ownership after November 2015 is not documented.

Specifique Garments and the Making of the Shirt

Le Tigre is a popular brand of shirts manufactured by Specifique Garments Inc. since the 1980s. Every shirt manufactured starts with high quality fabric and focuses on stylish cuts, detailing with impeccable workmanship. That closing note shifts from history to making: shirts, manufactured by Specifique Garments Inc. since the 1980s, each starting with high quality fabric and finished with stylish cuts, detailing and impeccable workmanship. Fabric first, then cut, then detailing - the order in the sentence is a fair order for judging any polo in hand.

Read as buying guidance for a children's polo, stated as a general standard, those three tests travel well. High quality fabric in a child's polo means a knit that holds its collar shape and colour through frequent washing; a stylish cut means room to move without a baggy body; and detailing with impeccable workmanship shows at the placket, the buttons and the embroidered motif itself, which should sit flat and stitch cleanly with no loose threads. Learn more about the Le Tigre kids fashion brand at the official site, linked in References below under the words Le Tigre kids fashion.

A Rival Brand, Read Honestly

A brand designed to rival another in styling asks for a particular kind of honesty from a directory, and this page keeps it. Le Tigre's identity is openly comparative - the leaping tiger in lieu of the crocodile - and there is nothing borrowed or hidden about it: the rivalry is the brand's founding idea, its later-1980s popularity as its high water mark, its 1990s absence and 2003 comeback as its middle chapter, and its 2007 and 2015 ownership changes as its recent record. A children's polo bought under this name carries that whole story in miniature.

In short: first offered in 1977; polos sporting a leaping tiger in lieu of Lacoste's signature crocodile; an American brand designed to rival Lacoste in styling; popular during the later 1980s, with Wilt Chamberlain, LL Cool J and Ronald Reagan seen wearing the tiger; out of production through the 1990s and back in a 2003 comeback; based in New York City; a subsidiary of Kenneth Cole Productions since 2007; purchased by Infinity Lifestyle Brands and Hilco Brands in November 2015; and a popular brand of shirts manufactured by Specifique Garments Inc. since the 1980s, each starting with high quality fabric, stylish cuts, detailing and impeccable workmanship.