A tennis shirt, also called a polo shirt or a golf shirt, is a T-shaped shirt with a collar, (typically) two or
three buttons down a slit below the collar, two small slits on the bottom of either side, and an optional
pocket. They are usually made of knitted cloth (rather than woven cloth), usually pique cotton or, less
commonly, silk, merino wool, or synthetic fibers. In the nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, tennis
players ordinarily wore long-sleeved shirts, trousers, and ties. As one might expect, this attire presented
several problems for ease of play and comfort on the court...
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René Lacoste, the French 7-time Grand Slam tennis champion, was very
keen to these problems. He decided that the stiff dress shirts and ties of
the day were simply too cumbersome and uncomfortable for the tennis
court. Instead, he started his own clothing line, aptly named Lacoste and
designed a loosely-knit pique cotton shirt with an un-starched, flat
protruding collar and a longer shirt-tail in back than in front (known
today as a "tennis tail"; see below). Lacoste's original design also called
for a particularly thick pique collar that one would wear upturned in order
to block the sun from one's neck.
Application to polo and other sports
Before Lacoste’s 1929 invention of the tennis shirt, polo players wore
thick long-sleeve shirts made of Oxford-cloth cotton. Interestingly, this
shirt was the first to have a button-down collar, which polo players
invented in the late nineteenth century to keep their collars from flapping
in the wind (Brooks Brothers still produces this same style of "polo
shirt"). Still, those clothes presented a discomfort on the field, and when
polo players became aware of Lacoste’s invention in the 1930s they
readily adopted it for use in polo.
In 1967, Ralph Lauren included his "polo shirt" as a prominent part of his
original line called Polo. While not specifically geared for use by polo
players, Lauren’s shirt imitated what was by that time normal attire for
polo players. As he desired to exude a certain "waspishness" in his
clothes, initially adopting the style of clothiers like Brooks Brothers, J.
Press, and "Savile Row"-style English clothing, he prominently included
this attire from the "sport of kings" in his line, replete with a logo
reminiscent of Lacoste’s crocodile emblem. This worked well as a
marketing tool, for subsequently, due to the immense popularity of
Lauren’s clothing, a majority of English-speaking westerners began to
refer to Lacoste’s tennis shirt as a "polo shirt". Still, "tennis shirt"
remains a viable term for all uses of Lacoste’s basic design.
Over the latter half of the twentieth century, as standard clothing in golf
became more casual, the tennis shirt became adopted nearly universally
as standard golf attire. Very few golfers today wear anything else.
Moreover, producing Lacoste’s "tennis shirt" in various golf cuts has
resulted in specific designs of the tennis shirt for golf, resulting in the
monicker "golf shirt".
Today
Since 1929, the tennis shirt has become so popular that it has become
one of the standard categories of clothing. Virtually every major clothier
makes some version or variation of Lacoste's tennis shirt. It is today
worn by both men and women in numerous non-athletic contexts.
Notably, tennis shirts are worn by many semi-professional and retail
workers in settings where t-shirts are not acceptable but formal business
attire is not required. In contemporary Western fashion, tennis shirts are
considered more casual than woven button-down shirts while still being
slightly dressy.
The tennis shirt continues to have vast use in athletics, used even by
non-athletes associated with a given sport in their employment, such as
caddies, some retired golf professionals, and sports announcers.
It is also a favored shirt for those working outside, such as
groundskeepers and construction workers due to its ruggedness. During
the 1990s, the tennis shirt became the standard informal business attire
for the high tech industry. Many large companies such as retailers have
their employees who interact with the public wear a form of tennis shirt
(often prominently branded with the company name and logo) tucked
into trousers as part of their everyday uniform. In the People's Republic
of China, most younger government officials wear a tennis shirt
(sometimes made of silk) as standard business attire.
In many schools with a uniform, especially junior schools, tennis shirts
are part of a compulsory uniform for both boys and girls.
The most common way to wear a tennis shirt is with the top button
undone only and with an optional T-shirt underneath for warmth. One
can find them in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Wide horizontal
stripes are common, as are shirts of a pattern. Due to the outdoor
nature of the sports with which they are associated, the shirts are often
made of "natural" colors. For tennis, one would normally wear a brighter-
colored shirt, most often white.
As in Lacoste’s original shirt, sometimes a tennis shirt is cut so that the
back hangs a few centimeters lower than the front. As noted above, this
is called a “tennis tail”. The longer cut is designed to keep the shirt
tucked into the back of a man's tennis shorts when he is bent over to
survey the court. The easily-upturnable collar remains another athletic aid.
By the late 1990's, the 'tennis' shirt had started falling out of favor by
tennis players. In 2006, Roger Federer prefers a t-shirt, while Andy
Roddick still wears a tennis shirt.
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