clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Lacoste to Preppify Soho House and Hotel Gansevoort Staff

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Similar to the way that Brooklyn Industries is providing the staff uniforms at Hotel Williamsburg, Lacoste will be dressing the workers at Soho House and both Hotel Gansevoort locations in New York. Because nothing is cooler than hotel membership fees (and the Gansevoort), the Times explains that "outfitting concierges and waiters is representative of a broader effort to reinvigorate Lacoste, which some may associate with a bygone preppy era."

Charlie Walk, a partner at the marketing agency working with Lacoste, RJW Collective, explains the problem: "It's an iconic brand with a ton of history, but in the last few years I think it lost touch with the next generation. It felt kind of stagnant — you respected the croc but you weren't really sure who it was touching, how it was connecting with you." In addition to outfitting the hotel staffers, Lacoste is also dressing the wait staff, bus boys, and valets at Nobu in the Hamptons. And in other Manhattan stunts, they'll arbitrarily be handing out 3,000 red rubber crocodiles throughout the city.
· Lacoste Recasts Itself in Its Own Prestige [NYT]
· Hotel Williamsburg Staff Will Wear Brooklyn Industries Uniforms [Racked NY]