Lacoste asks Ateliers de Nîmes to no longer use a crocodile on their logo

The Lacoste brand asked the Ateliers de Nîmes to change their logo. It's incomprehension for co-founder Guillaume Sagot.

A surprising letter was opened by Guillaume Sagot, co-founder of Ateliers de Nîmes. The French brand proudly claims to weave the most sustainable and authentic “denim” in the world, in the heights of Nîmes, Montaury district. Through a law firm, the Lacoste company asked the Nîmes brand, the only one in France to weave Nîmes twill, to change its logo.

The symbols of the city for over 600 years

The Ateliers de Nîmes use a crocodile coupled with a palm tree, emblems of the city. “When Clement Payen designed it, he immersed himself deeply in this Nîmes and Roman identity, which today is a large part of the soul of the City of Nîmes and of our Ateliers de Nîmes brand,” justifies Guillaume Sagot. The same to continue: “I have the impression that there is a rule in entrepreneurship… When everything seems to be going well and all the problems are resolved, there is always a grain of sand that blocks the cogs. For your information, the coat of arms of the City of Nîmes, inspired by the Roman currency “the Ace of Nîmes”, was made official by François I in 1533.”

Support from the first deputy mayor of Nîmes

The director of Ateliers de Nîmes still hopes to be able to find an amicable solution. She even says she's willing to commit to only using it on her jeans and to commit to never wearing a polo shirt. The renewal of its brand is in fact blocked at the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) by Lacoste's request. The first deputy mayor of Nîmes, Julien Plantier, expressed his support via a statement on the professional social network LinkedIn: