The Polo

Where does polo come from? The question is asked on both sides of the Channel. But the answers differ. It is therefore appropriate to develop the two existing versions. For the sake of elegance, let's start with the British version.

For our island neighbours, polo appeared on an Indian polo field in the 19th century. The English, keen practitioners of equestrian sports, got into the habit of playing polo wearing an undershirt with a small front closure and short sleeves. In 1901, the Maharaja of Jodhpur had the idea of re-cutting the shirt into a narrower version, shortened on the hips. The ancestor of polo, the English version, was born.

In France, the polo shirt is also linked to the world of sport: tennis. Tennis players wore flannel pants and shirts whose sleeves had to be rolled up constantly... Not very practical for players focused on their match. In order to play more comfortably, a distinguished tennis player, René Lacoste, created a pique knit shirt in 1926. This is where the French polo shirt comes from.

This garment, evocative of the sports world, reached its peak in the United States in the 1950s. It was quickly adopted by cricket, rugby and polo players. Wide stripes and numbers printed on the jersey helped differentiate the teams. Soon the flat-collared garment would find an unexpected new sphere of influence: the American bourgeoisie.