Le Coq Sportif - 139 years of some bird.
- Bradley Martinez
- Mar 11, 2021
- 2 min read
Le Coq Sportif, a brand that within the UK we don’t hear about or see much anymore. However, within Europe stores are still fruitful with collaborations, plenty of in-line product options and always receiving a positive reactions on their ‘Made in France’ range.
Rich with 139 years worth of history, Emile Camuset opened his first workshop in Romilly-Sur-Seine, France in 1882. In there, was produced some of the brands first lines of apparel. At the time they hadn't even delved into the footwear world yet. Even still, it wasn't until nearly 50 years later before Le Coq Sportif release their first product catalogue which at the time was predominantly made up of Cycling attire.
With over 100 years worth of stories to tell, the brand even had a claim to fashion fame as they were the originators of the tracksuit which they brought to life in 1939 and was know in France as - 'The Sunday uniform'.
Some other notable milestones for the brand include outfitting Arthur Ashe, the first Black Tennis player to win Wimbledon in 1975, sponsoring the Tour de France, designed the kits for Italys world cup winning team in 1982 and also Maradona's World Cup Winning Argentinian team in 1986.
Its hard to actually find a place where Le Coq Sportif haven't made there mark already on!
What about shoes though...
So through a lot of time and effort I believe the brand started selling shoes from 1949. Unfortunately I couldn't find much else on it, one of their most recognisable models though - The Eclat, released in 1985. This shoe was built very similarly to the adidas Originals Oregon and New York models, due to the brand being owned by adidas at the time the Eclat first launched. Although information on the brands footwear history isn't the easiest to find unlike some others, don't let that take anything away from the brands success throughout their life as a sportswear brand.
Looking at this specific pair of Eclats, it was the first project between Footpatrol and the French sportswear brand releasing back in 2011. Although this launch wasn’t one of the brands well know ‘Made in France’ models, the shoe is constructed out of Nylon and a high quality suede that is insanely soft to the touch. Footpatrol gas mask tongue branding, a dual branded set of socks and also an additional dust bag.
As it stands, compared to the later released Eclat that Footpatrol launched a year later, this pair were very understated and to top it all off were limited to 85 pairs worldwide.
^ click to arrow to see more images.
^ This image above features both released (top) and sample (bottom) version of this collaboration. Although the differences may not be as stand out as other samples out there in the wild, the initial sample design featured a darker greyed mug guard surrounding the toe. The final version ended up going ahead with a full navy look.
References:
Comments