Lacoste is a French premium clothing label known for a piqué polo with an embroidered crocodile on the chest. In India it is sold under licence by a Delhi-registered company, and its median listed price on 15 September 2026 was ₹9,400.
Two things stand out. Few listings were reduced on the day read, and the declarations name the brand’s own Indian licensee as seller. The brand does not authenticate individual products.
Across 100 Lacoste listings read on 15 September 2026, 23 were reduced and the share of MRP charged was 92.3%. The Indian licensee, Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, is seller of record on 39 of 40 declarations. Lacoste publishes no product authentication method; its guarantee covers its boutiques, its sites and authorised resellers.
Snapshot
- Brand owner
- MF Brands Group SA, Geneva; ultimately Maus Frères SA
- Lacoste fully acquired
- November 2012, for a reported €1 billion
- India entity
- Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, CIN U18101DL1992PLC048003, incorporated 13 March 1992
- In India since
- 1993, under licence — not a subsidiary and not a joint venture
- India revenue
- ₹203.1 crore operating revenue for the year to 31 March 2025, up 19%
- Group revenue
- Lacoste close to €3 billion in 2024, stated by its chief executive
- Category
- Apparel, with licensed watches and footwear alongside
- Price band in India
- Premium — median MRP ₹9,400 across 100 listings, read 15 September 2026
- Available in India
- lacoste.in, own boutiques, and multi-brand marketplaces the brand does not name
Who owns Lacoste, and who sells it to you here
The crocodile belongs to a Swiss family holding company. Maus Frères SA describes itself on its own site as a joint stock company wholly owned by the founding Maus and Nordmann families, based in Geneva since 1902.
Its brand arm, renamed MF Brands Group on 6 March 2020, held 35% of Lacoste before buying the remaining 65% in November 2012. FashionUnited reported the deal at €1 billion, and MF Brands’ own milestones page dates the full acquisition to 2012.
- Maus Frères SAGeneva family holding, founded 1902
- Maus Frères InternationalRenamed MF Brands Group, 6 March 2020
- MF Brands Group SAAlso holds Gant, taken over in 2008
- Lacoste35% held, 100% from November 2012
Gant sits under the same Geneva owner — worth knowing if you are comparing the two on an Indian shelf as rivals with nothing in common.
Neither Maus Frères nor MF Brands is listed anywhere, and neither publishes accounts. MF Brands’ own page carries one sales figure — €3.4 billion — with no year attached. Every group number in circulation is a press figure from a named executive, and this page treats them that way.
The Indian company, and what the register says about it
Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited is an unlisted public company registered in Delhi since 13 March 1992, with paid-up capital of ₹11 crore. Lacoste began trading here through it in 1993. Four published sources across fourteen years call the arrangement a licence; nothing found calls it anything else.
The company is Indian-promoted: a 2012 interview with its then chief executive Rajesh Jain describes it as promoted by the Turner Morrison group. It holds its own legal entity identifier, and that record carries something unusual — the company has told the identifier system it consolidates into nobody’s accounts, at both direct-parent and ultimate-parent level. The same database does name MF Brands and Maus Frères as parents of another group company, so the blank is a statement rather than a gap.
On 15 September 2026 the same company was named on lacoste.in as owner and operator of the site and as seller on its terms of sale.
Those mirrors carry no shareholder list, so this page states no percentages and names no holder above the Indian company. The revenue is there: ₹203.1 crore for the year to 31 March 2025, up 19%. The profit line sits behind a paywall, so no rupee profit or loss is published for any year.
What Lacoste costs in India
On 15 September 2026, 100 Lacoste listings were read on Myntra, where the brand’s facet carries 1,875 items.
- Median listed MRP
- ₹9,400
- Share of MRP actually charged
- 92.3%
- Listings reduced
- 23 of 100
- Checked on
- 15 September 2026
Two numbers matter more than the headline. There were six discount rungs across the hundred, so the reductions that exist come off a very short ladder. And there were 67 distinct MRPs in 100 listings — pricing set per garment, not read off a grid.
That puts Lacoste among a small group of brands read on this site that hold their prices: Jockey, Manyavar, Bershka, Andamen, and Ralph Lauren at 93.2% on the same day.
What the company has actually said about its prices
There is a published pricing statement, and it is about increases rather than reductions. Speaking to the Financial Times and Le Figaro in January 2025, chief executive Thierry Guibert said Lacoste had increased its prices by 35% over his decade leading the brand, while moving towards selling direct — direct-to-consumer is now 70% of the business. That is a press figure attributed to a named executive, not a filing.
On the other side, no published statement on discounting or markdown policy was found, in India or globally. What exists either side of it is sale mechanics rather than policy — a Semi-Annual Sale section on lacoste.com, and a stated April 2024 plan to open premium factory outlets for off-season stock. This page reports the 23-in-100 reading only.
Does duty explain the number?
Partly, and less than you would think. Twelve of the 40 declarations named India as the country of origin, and no customs duty is paid on those at all. On the imported remainder, apparel duty is 20%, doubled from 10% in July 2018. But duty applies to the landed transfer value, not the shelf price, so 20% of a wholesale cost adds far less than 20% to an MRP. An Indian price is a margin decision far more than a tax one.
Who is answerable for the garment
Every product sold in India carries a Legal Metrology declaration: MRP inclusive of taxes, country of origin, and the manufacturer, packer or importer. It names who is answerable for the goods, not who sewed them.
On Lacoste the answerable party is clearly named. Across 40 records the seller of record is Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited on 39 — the brand’s own Indian licensee, the same company named on lacoste.in. The declared manufacturer on 24 of the 40 is Montaigne Hongkong Limited, whose own identifier record names MF Brands Group as direct parent and Maus Frères as ultimate parent. The entity answering for the garment sits inside the Lacoste group. Not one of the forty left the manufacturer line blank.
Lacoste’s forty origins split India 12, Tunisia 10 and Vietnam 10, with five other countries behind. Origin varies style by style, so read the box.
Three licences under one crocodile
“Lacoste” on an Indian shelf is three separate arrangements, and the shopfront separates none of them.
- ApparelLicensed to Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, India, since 1993
- WatchesWorldwide licence to Movado Group, announced 2006, in force from 1 January 2007
- FootwearPentland Chaussures Ltd, a 50/50 venture with Pentland formed in 2018
Nineteen of the hundred listings read on 15 September 2026 were watches.
The watch line is the one most likely to surprise. Movado Group announced a worldwide licence with Lacoste in March 2006, effective from the start of 2007, and still lists Lacoste among its licensed brands rather than its owned ones. The current agreement runs from 1 January 2022 between three Lacoste entities and Movado’s Swiss arm — the same shape as much of the watch shelf.
Footwear has been designed and produced since 2018 by a 50/50 venture with Britain’s Pentland Group, ending a relationship going back to 1991. That puts the crocodile’s shoes alongside sportswear names such as Puma, not only shirt makers.
What the polo claims, and what stands behind it
The Original L.12.12 polo is the product the brand is built on, and its page is specific. Composition: cotton 100%. The petit piqué is described as the signature Lacoste fabric, invented for the polo in 1933. And it makes two countable craft claims — 20 kilometres of thread knitted under two levels of tension, and a crocodile logo of 2,367 stitches.
No test is published for them — no durability, pilling, shrinkage, colourfastness or fabric-weight result. No certification is published either: no organic standard, no Better Cotton, no OEKO-TEX, no mill named.
The page gives the fibre composition to the percentage point; it does not carry test data or certifications.
Buying Lacoste in India
Lacoste addresses counterfeiting directly. Its brand-protection pages call it a premium brand often targeted by counterfeiters, with copies turning up in shops, markets and online. “First copy” is the Indian term for these.
What it offers in return is a guarantee about channels, not garments. It guarantees products bought in Lacoste boutiques, on its own sites and from authorised resellers, and says that outside that network it cannot authenticate the item.
Please note that Lacoste does not respond to requests to authenticate products.
No authentication method is published: no code, hologram, serial number or QR check for a garment. The brand’s Fight Fakes tool checks a website address, not a product.
The Indian FAQ narrows it. Genuine Lacoste, it says, can be bought on lacoste.in, on an authorised e-retail website or app, or in a boutique. The lacoste.in pages read do not name an authorised Indian e-retailer; the site does publish a physical store locator.
The store locator showed 71 entries across 33 cities on 15 September 2026, but those include airport counters and partner retailers such as Foot Locker. Read it as points of sale, not boutiques.
What to check before you pay
Buy inside the named channel
The guarantee attaches to boutiques, lacoste.in and resellers. With no Indian e-retailer named, the only channels you can verify are the shop and the brand’s site.
Turn the box over
The declaration carries MRP, origin and the manufacturer or importer. On the listings read here it named the licensee or a group company every time.
Treat a deep cut as a question
Only 23 of 100 listings carried any reduction. A polo at a third of MRP is not the pattern the brand’s own shelf shows.
Know where you can return it
The Indian terms allow 15-day returns only on lacoste.in purchases. Everything else goes back to where you bought it, and watches, belts and underwear are excluded.
Reputation, and the crocodile case
The best-known Lacoste matter in India is a fight between two crocodiles, decided twice.
At first instance the Delhi High Court, sitting as a single judge, granted Lacoste a permanent injunction against Crocodile International Pte Ltd in August 2024, in a suit filed in 2001. Reports differ on the day — one gives 16 August, two give 14 August. The court found the marks deceptively similar: the shape, posture and depiction of the two crocodiles carried a high risk of deception. Lacoste won on trademark infringement and lost two other limbs: copyright was rejected on the merger doctrine, and passing off failed for want of proved goodwill in India. On money the court directed an account of profits from August 1998; no damages figure has been reported as awarded.
The appeal, and what it settled
On 9 March 2026 a Division Bench of the same court upheld the injunction, restraining Crocodile International from using the disputed logo in India, and again rejected passing off for want of goodwill evidence. Reports disagree on copyright: one account of the appeal says the bench confirmed trademark and copyright infringement, while the first-instance reporting records copyright as rejected. Those readings have not been reconciled, and this page prints both rather than choosing.
The distinction that matters to a shopper: this is one registered crocodile mark against another, between two companies. It is not a counterfeiting case, it says nothing about fakes on a street stall, and it is not a finding against anyone selling Lacoste in India today. No further appeal has been reported, and nobody has ruled on anything beyond the above.
On advertising, no finding against Lacoste, Lacoste India or Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited was located on the Indian advertising council’s record — a self-regulatory body, not a court. The same method does surface findings against named Indian advertisers when they exist, so read it as nothing found rather than nothing checked.
Who Lacoste is actually for
Lacoste suits a buyer who wants one plain, well-cut polo and means to wear it for years. The Indian arrangement gives a clear answer on the question that matters if something goes wrong: a named Indian company, on the register since 1992, is answerable for the goods on 39 of 40 listings.
It suits you much less if you shop on discount. At 92.3% of MRP across six rungs, waiting for a sale is mostly waiting. It suits you less, too, if you want a product-level authenticity check — the guarantee attaches to the shop, not the shirt. Origin varies by style, with India, Tunisia and Vietnam the commonest on the declarations read, so compare it with a name like Nike on the garment itself.
Common questions
Who owns Lacoste?
MF Brands Group SA of Geneva, which is part of the Swiss family holding Maus Frères SA. It held 35% of Lacoste and bought the rest in November 2012, in a deal reported at €1 billion. The same group owns Gant.
Who sells Lacoste in India?
Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, a Delhi-registered public company incorporated in 1992 and trading the brand here since 1993. It holds the Indian licence; it is not a Lacoste subsidiary, and its own identifier record says it consolidates into no parent’s accounts.
Is Lacoste made in India?
Partly. Of 40 Indian listings read on 15 September 2026, 12 declared India as the country of origin, with Tunisia and Vietnam on 10 each and the rest spread across Asia and Turkey. Origin varies by style, so check the declaration on the box.
Does Lacoste discount in India?
Rarely, on the day read. 23 of 100 listings read on 15 September 2026 carried a reduction, and the brand charged 92.3% of MRP overall. No published statement on discounting or markdown policy was found.
Can Lacoste tell me whether my polo is genuine?
No. The brand states that it does not respond to requests to authenticate products, and no authentication method is published — no code, serial or QR check on the garment. Its guarantee attaches to where you bought it, not to the item.
Are Lacoste watches made by Lacoste?
No. They are made under a worldwide licence held by Movado Group, announced in March 2006 and effective from January 2007. Movado lists Lacoste among its licensed brands rather than its owned ones.
How we research and verify brand audits: our methodology.
References
- Maus Frères SA, About, read 15 September 2026 — the Geneva holding, its legal form and family ownership
- MF Brands Group, The Group, read 15 September 2026 — 2012 full acquisition of Lacoste, Gant taken over 2008, the undated €3.4 billion sales figure
- FashionUnited, 16 November 2012 — 35% held, 65% acquired, €1 billion
- FashionNetwork, 6 March 2020 — the rename to MF Brands Group
- Register mirror for Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, read 15 September 2026 — CIN, incorporation date, capital, directors
- Retail & Leisure International, 25 September 2019 — operating in India since 1993, the licensee structure
- Fibre2Fashion Face2Face, 17 October 2012 — the licensee promoted by the Turner Morrison group
- Legal entity identifier record 335800GOD11IM1G28S04 (GLEIF), Sports and Leisure Apparel Limited, read 15 September 2026 — the non-consolidating parent exceptions
- lacoste.in, Credits, read 15 September 2026 — the licensee named as owner and operator of the Indian site
- Register mirror, read 15 September 2026 — FY2025 operating revenue ₹203.1 crore, up 19%; profit not published
- FashionNetwork, 27 January 2025 — Thierry Guibert on close to €3 billion, prices up 35% over a decade, direct-to-consumer at 70%
- Images Business of Fashion, 23 April 2024 — premium factory outlets for off-season stock, about 50 points of sale
- Summary of Notification No. 53/2018-Customs, 16 July 2018 — apparel basic customs duty doubled to 20% with per-piece floors
- Legal entity identifier record 549300WESI7V8GVUV798 (GLEIF), Montaigne Hong Kong Limited, read 15 September 2026 — Hong Kong registration, MF Brands as direct parent, Maus Frères as ultimate parent
- Movado Group press release, 28 March 2006 — the worldwide watch licence, effective 1 January 2007
- Movado Group, Brands, read 15 September 2026 — Lacoste listed among licensed rather than owned brands
- FashionNetwork UK, 22 April 2025 — Pentland Chaussures Ltd, the 50/50 footwear venture formed 2018
- Lacoste, Original L.12.12 polo product page, read 15 September 2026 — cotton 100%, petit piqué, 20 kilometres of thread, 2,367 stitches, no test or certification
- Lacoste, Brand Protection, read 15 September 2026 — the channel guarantee and the refusal to authenticate goods bought outside it
- Lacoste, Brand Protection, read 15 September 2026 — the statement that Lacoste does not respond to requests to authenticate products
- Lacoste, Fight Fakes, read 15 September 2026 — the tool that checks an online location rather than a product
- lacoste.in, FAQ, read 15 September 2026 — the authorised e-retail website/app wording, with no retailer named
- lacoste.in, Store locator, read 15 September 2026 — 71 entries across 33 cities, including airport counters and partner retailers
- lacoste.in, Terms of sale, read 15 September 2026 — the 15-day return window, the site-only restriction and the excluded categories
- Verdictum case report, read 15 September 2026 — the first-instance permanent injunction and the account of profits from August 1998
- SpicyIP analysis, September 2024 — deceptive similarity, the rejected copyright and passing off claims, the 1983 agreement held inapplicable in India
- LawBeat, 11 March 2026 — the Division Bench judgment of 9 March 2026 upholding the injunction
- Bar & Bench, 9 March 2026 — the appeal outcome, reported the same day
Lacoste is one of the few imported names on an Indian shelf where the accountability question has a clean answer. A company registered in Delhi since 1992 is seller of record on 39 of 40 listings, the manufacturer named on 24 sits inside the brand’s own group, and no declaration left that line blank. That is worth something when a seam goes.
The price is the other half. At 92.3% of MRP, six discount rungs and 67 distinct MRPs in a hundred listings, this is a brand that prices each garment and holds the number — good news only if you were not waiting for a sale. On authenticity, the brand’s guarantee covers its boutiques, its sites and authorised resellers; it does not authenticate individual products, and lacoste.in does not name an authorised Indian e-retailer.
Buy it in a Lacoste boutique or on lacoste.in, expect to pay close to MRP, and keep the receipt.
