Fred Perry

With Wimbledon on full knacker at the moment, I thought it would be nice to bin the clammy media sweatband that girdles Tennis today and leap back to the glamour years. For me, there is only one brand in tennis that has managed to succeed in blurring the corners of both game functionality and ‘off-the-court’ style; that brand is Fred Perry.

Perry was the king of sports-casual. His tennis career was unparalleled, with some critics suggesting he was the greatest male player of all time. Even when off-court he flourished. In the heady 1930′s summers,  his dashing bachelor lifestyle and suave English mannerisms put him on a cultural pedestal. When an Australian approached him to discuss using a wrist band to prevent sweat from dripping onto his hands, Perry made some modifications and created the first tennis sweatband under the Fred Perry brand. The rest is history.

For me, the brand is heavily reinforced by the painfully simple logo.  The laurel leaves suggest victory, trophies, reliability and quality – The fact that they appear with no other heraldry or illumination makes them them even more recognisable out of context. His brand was easily recognisable as the bona-fide polo shirt choice of the mod movement in 1950′s, when for a time, only one colour (white) was available. Afterwards, the brand was picked up by the skinheads of the 60′s and 70′s and later Fred Perry was to do a decent turn on the Northern Soul scene too.  Check out the well-built Fred Perry site for some  playground flashbacks and nice use of vintage styling with contemporary players.