The history of the polo shirt

 

The short-sleeved, casual top has become a staple uniform garment. It is a true fashion classic and one that is not going out of style any time soon. Where did the polo shirt come from? Here’s a little back story to one of the most iconic garments, now used regularly as promotional uniform.

Where it all began

The polo shirts debut was recorded in the late 19th century in Manipur, India. While British soldiers were stationed in Manipur, they witnessed a game of Polo being played and soon set up a team of their own.

The sport of polo became so popular that the British Army and British tea planters in India became regular players. Consideration of thekit they were wearingto play became an issue. The traditional clothing of the time consisted of long sleeved, thick shirts made of cotton. Displeased with these uncomfortable shirts, the playersbegan to alter them and attached their collars to their shirts with buttons to stop them flailing while galloping on the field.

Polo was introduced into England in 1862. Not long after, John E Brooks, the grandson of the founder of the Brooks Brothers firm in the United States of America, came to England on a European purchasing visit and went to watch a game of Polo. While watching the game he observed something strange about the players collars - they had been buttoned down so they wouldn’t flap about in the breeze.

John Brooks then took the notion back to Brooks Brothers and they started attaching button-down collars to smart dress shirts and presented them to the public in 1896. Their Button-down shirt is still one of fashions most iconic garments. 

Jean Rene Lacoste

French tennis player Jean Rene Lacoste (1904-1996) had a huge impact on the changing of the design of the polo shirt. Tennis clothing during the early 1900’s wasn’t dissimilar to those of polo players – long sleeved thick shirts. Lacoste found these shirts impractical and instead of rolling the sleeves of the shirt up he decided to re-design a shirt so he could comfortably play the sport.

He chose to use a pique cotton, which was a more breathable material, include short sleeves and an unstarched collar. He also included an emblem, the famous Crocodile. Lacoste wore his shirt to play in the US Open Championships (which he won) and it generated a great buzz. Other tennis players started wearing the newly designed shirt and Lacoste, with a friend, created his own company and sold similar style shirts.

Since then the polo shirt has gone global. There are now so many varieties of colours of shirt and collar, different brands available including the infamous Fred Perry of the 1950’s and Ralph Lauren of the 1970’swho have created their own logos and have both had huge success with their iconic designs.

It wasn’t until the 1990's that the polo shirt started to become part of the standard informal business uniform for high-tech businesses and then spread to other industries. Now as a standard part of a uniform, businesses are aware of the benefits of branding a plain polo-shirt with their own company name and logo.

At bmt Promotions we have a range of high-quality polo shirts, ready to be branded with your business logo by full-colour printing or embroidery.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Importance of High-Visibility Clothing at Work

Image
High Visibility clothing (Hi-Vis) is a type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worn in a working environment so a person is more visible. It’s a type of clothing that has reflective properties, or is made in a colour that is distinctly different from the background. Wearing high-visibility PPE enables people to be more aware of your presence, which in turn will help them to act faster in the event that they could potentially endanger you or them. What industries should wear Hi-Vis clothing? Occupational workers that would be need to wear Hi-Vis PPE include: construction workers, airport staff, warehouse employees and railway and motorway workforces. Wearing high-visibility clothing can reduce accidents in high traffic areas such as construction sites and industrial areas. At these places of work hi-vis clothing or PPE is required under Health and Safety regulations. Aisles in large storage warehouses can have relatively silent forklift equipment travelling along t...
Read more

Top Giveaways To Help Raise Awareness For Your Charity

Image
A charity is a non-profit organisation set up to help and raise money for those in need. Many charities, especially smaller ones, are run by volunteers alone so they do not have big budgets, if any, for advertising and creating ways to promote their charity and raise much needed funds. Promotional merchandise is a great, fun way to raise money at charity events. Some promotional items can be given away at fundraisers to increase awareness about the charity or, some can be sold to obtain important funds for the charity’s cause. Here are some great giveaways that won’t cost a charity an arm and a leg but, will raise a lot of awareness for those in need. Promotional Wristbands It’s rare to see a person say no to receiving a wristband , especially if it’s free. Wristbands are a popular accessory around the world and at bmt Promotions we have taken the opportunity to create our own custom imprinted rubber bracelets. These wristbands feature your charity’...
Read more

Five Branded Valentines Treats for Your Valued Customers

Image
St. Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us and, it’s the perfect time to tell your customers how much you appreciate them with some love inspired promotional gifts. Branded Heart Shaped Confectionary Chocolates and sweets are a delicious way to tell your clients how much you appreciate their custom or, express to your employees how much you appreciate their efforts. BMT promotions have a range of assorted products that you can send including, boxes of branded chocolate hearts, tins of promotional mints or even a promotional heart-shaped slab of milk, dark or white chocolate coated in various flavours like chilli, sea-salt and caramel. These fabulous promotional products are on the confectionary page of the bmt promotions website, take a peek . Stress Love Hearts As much as love is in the air over St. Valentine’s Day, if you’re at work, you may feel bogged down with tasks and be a little stressed out. What better gift than a branded stress heart for your customers or employees to...
Read more