Lacoste Wants to Give You a $50 Gift Card for Your Old Summer Shirt

by Lesley Kennedy (Subscribe to Lesley Kennedy's posts)
Posted Jun 2nd 2010 at 10:45AM

Lacoste Izod polo shirts multicolor stack

Trade in your old summer shirt for a new classic polo from Lacoste. Photo courtesy of Lacoste

Now that summer is unofficially upon us, we're ready to clean out our closets to make way for some fresh fashions.

And Lacoste's "Royal Pains" Summer Shirt Exchange is giving us added incentive to adhere to the adage, "Out with the old, in with the new."

Through the program, New York customers can trade gently worn summer shirts for a $50 gift card toward a new one from the iconic brand. Partnering with the USA cable network and Vanity Fair, Lacoste's exchange will benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and coincides with the June 3 premiere of USA's "Royal Pains."

For each shirt collected (it can be from any label -- but no holes or stains), USA will donate $10 to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical care in nearly 70 countries.

"We are excited to team up with USA Network on this unique partnership supporting the efforts of Doctors Without Borders," Steve Birkhold, president and CEO of Lacoste USA, said in a statement. "Lacoste is synonymous with summer and the iconic polo, so this project makes perfect sense for us."

If you're in New York City, stop by the Lacoste store at Greenley Square Park on 32nd Street and 6th Ave. between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on June 3. When you exchange your shirt, you'll receive a Lacoste gift card redeemable for a new shirt at any Lacoste boutique.

All shirts collected will be donated to HELP USA, an organization dedicated to providing the homeless and people in need with housing and supportive services to become and remain self-reliant. HELP USA will distribute the shirts to their 30 transitional and permanent housing facilities across the country.

Not in New York? Customers can donate a gently worn summer shirt at all 67 Lacoste boutiques in exchange for a 20 percent discount off one full-priced item through June 20.

Speaking of giving to a good cause, here's how handbag designer Judith Leiber contributed to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Filed under: Fashion, News, Designers & Brands, Shopping
Tags: charities, doctors without borders, lacoste, polos, retailers, royal pains, shirts, usa network

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READER COMMENTS

(8)Add A Comment

Dakota, 6-02-2010, 3:35PM

Stupid that it is only New York! too expensive even if 20% off is applied. Screw Lacoste

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Katie, 6-02-2010, 4:18PM

I totally agree with you Dakota! It appears that this company doesn't realize it's bread is buttered in other places than New York!

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sadistikalxgod, 6-02-2010, 6:21PM

you know it doesnt even matter if its new york or any other state if these companies can offer these deals to help out 70 diffrent countries for medical care why the hell cant they help the homeless , the people without insurance in there own freakin country we can raise 4 billion dollars to help haitti but we cant help our vets standing on the corner begging for money or help the people here who are homeless lacaste can stick there aliigator shirts and there $50 gift card where the sun dont shine

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Opihi, 6-02-2010, 8:44PM

Hey I like this idea! Okay Lacoste is unduly expensive .... but there's a whiff of charity here and that's good .... don't knock it. Better than nothing ...

If you want to knock something ... how about knocking AOL/Stylelist for this nasty policy ...

Come on, AOL ... on it's time to come clean with your readers. There's a nasty policy of setting up a "profile" when you sign on to leave a comment. Email address is required ostensibly for "confirmation" .... This is a lie. They set up a "Profile" under your sign-in name .... and what's worse, link to it with a hyperlink under your display name.

Don't believe me? Click onto your name here and see what happens. Yep ...there's your "profile" .... and .... a LIST of every comment you've ever posted on any AOL board. This is an invasion of privacy and is plain sneaky.

Sure ... you can make that profile "private" ... but if you don't know it's there and you don't know you have this option, you're all over the internet. And Google search may pick up your "profile" " if your name is unusual. I know ... it happened to me

Come on AOL ... play fair. Tell us that a profile is being set up, tell us that our name will be used ... and a LIST of all our comments is being saved. This is a terrible infringment on our privacy. Privacy should be the default .....

This is a law suit waiting to happen ..... no other sites play this shoddy game. Only AOL! Shame shame ...

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Johanna, 6-02-2010, 10:00PM

I agree it is king of "sneaky", but at the same time I think it might make some people think twice about what they post. Lots of people seem to get a kick out of making offensive posts. I'm sure some people wouldn't even care that everyone can see all their posts, but I think a lot of people would try harder to keep their posts clean.

Lori K, 6-02-2010, 9:07PM

$50 is 20% off! So, their shirts costs $250!! I wouldn't even spend $50 on a shirt!

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Johanna, 6-02-2010, 9:59PM

It seems like it's for a good cause. I think it's a little unfair that New Yorkers would get a $50 gift card and everyone else only gets 20% off. I never saw what the big deal was about Lacoste anyway, but it's nice that they will be giving the shirts they collect to charity.

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