Do you really know your favourite brands’ history as well as you think you do?

Test your knowledge thanks to the sixth part of the True or False series.

Lacoste

René Lacoste (1904-1996) was a French tennis player whose victories in both national and international tournaments were notorious during the 1920’s. His tenacity on the tennis courts gained him the nickname “the Crocodile”. When the first tennis shirts were produced, René Lacoste took to wearing one on the courts and personalised it embroidering it with a crocodile logo on the chest. In 1933, a few years after René Lacoste ended his career as an athlete, he partnered with André Gillier, the owner and president of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time, to found La Chemise Lacoste. Promoted as “the status symbol of the competent sportsman”, Lacoste’s products sound became popular amongst tennis players and other athletes before gaining popularity among the upper-class. Even though the brand diversified its offering by selling preppy clothing, accessories, perfumes,…Lacoste stays true to its family history as the brand is still under the direction of a member of the Lacoste family. True or False?

Samsung

In 1936, Kwang-min Park started selling radios and the first washing machine in his grocery store. Being one of the first to enter into this market in Korea his sales soon rocketed and he started opening new venues. In 1946, he officially founded Samsung, which means “stellar success” and began diversifying his product offerings. By 1968, thanks to the support of his wealthy uncle, Samsung had become one of the biggest chaebols (conglomerates) in Korea. When Park died in 1979, his son inherited the company and invested in developing electronic and technological subsidiaries. At the end of the 1990’s, Samsung had ventured into most industries from construction to banking. Samsung’s extraordinarily quick success earned it the nickname of “Miracle Star” and contributed to writing the legend of the company. True or false?

Yoplait

The Loyola and Plaitini families were two of the biggest dairy producers in Italy at the beginning of the 20^th century. Keen to found a company that would be the leader of the dairy market, they decided to unite their strengths by merging their companies. As was sometimes still the case at the beginning of the 20^th century, the deal was sealed with an arranged marriage. Thus, in 1906, Maria Loyola married Giambattista Plaitini. Yoplait was founded the same year and named after both families (Yo-Plait). Nowadays, Yoplait is a global company and the French leader of the ultra-fresh dairy products market. True or False?