Vintage Izod Lacoste Cardigan Blue Orlon Acrylic USA 70s

A 1970s Izod Lacoste cardigan in blue, 100% Orlon acrylic, V-neck button front with ribbed cuffs and hem, embroidered alligator on the chest, made in the USA. Preppy DNA straight from the source.

The Izod Lacoste label is one of those collaborations that shaped an entire aesthetic. René Lacoste, the French tennis legend nicknamed “The Crocodile,” put the little gator on his shirts in 1933. In 1952 the brand partnered with U.S. manufacturer David Crystal, and by the 1960s Izod Lacoste was the American gateway to French sportswear — the uniform of country clubs, Ivy League campuses, and anyone who wanted to telegraph a certain kind of taste. By the late 1980s the two brands split, and the Izod Lacoste co-branded tag became a dated artifact. If a sweater says Izod Lacoste with the alligator on the chest and is made in the USA, you’re looking at something before that divorce.

Orlon is the other time-stamp. DuPont’s acrylic fiber was marketed hard through the 60s and 70s as the wonder fabric that held color, resisted moths, and washed clean — a cornerstone of mid-century American knitwear before wool reclaimed the high ground. The weight, the sheen, the way it drapes: all pure 70s.

Ivy-adjacent, country-club-coded, and exactly the cardigan Wes Anderson would cast.