Lacoste has announced a fresh addition to the L family, and the new little sibling of the adored L001 shoe, the L005 re-contextualises tennis codes for a contemporary consumer. 

The L005 highlights Lacoste’s commitment to constantly updating and reworking its icons; playing with brand signatures in the constant pursuit of creativity. The shoe is a tribute both to Lacoste’s past and future, to the archive, and to the consumer of today, who has an appreciation of heritage and an interest in vibrant histories. 

The L001 and wider L family are already beloved Lacoste shoes. They offer a contemporary sneaker with a playfully retro mood. This shoe, like its predecessors, is a tribute to both Lacoste’s tennis and sneaker history. It takes the most successful aspects of the L001 – the volume, and the silhouette, and adds new elements on top. As with the L001, the retro shape and mood reference the Rene, Lacoste’s very first shoe and the kinetic, triangular lines running along the upper, recall the handle of an archive Lacoste racket from the 1980s.

There are new details, too, which nod to the world of tennis (from the aesthetic details of the inner and outer court to the perforation on tennis grips and ball colour-blocking). These codes are clashed in unexpected ways, bringing new modernity, visible most clearly in the unexpected fluid lines on the out shoe, exemplified by the striking, curved suede window which appears just below the ankle, a brand-new detail not featured in L001. Another key element, featured on the window and across a streamlined panel on the leather upper, are the perforated dots, which unmistakably nod to grips.

The shoe is retro in style but contemporary in mood, appealing to a youthful audience who do not like to be defined. This is a truly new vision of tennis for the younger market; a collision of court codes united to form a strikingly stylish shoe.

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Available now from Very.co.uk, USC.co.uk, Houseoffraser.co.uk, £95.00