Vintage Lacoste polo appreciation and trying to date them by labels

[Raul]

Anyone who owned a vintage Lacoste polo knows that quality wise the "modern" ones aren't comparable to the old ones.
For vintage I mean when they were still made in France. I know that recently they launched a new "made in france" line but this is another story and they don't make the classic polo.
To me there are no more Lacoste polos, as there as no more Rayban sunglasses after they were sold to Luxottica in 1998.
I don't know when Lacoste stopped to be manufactured in France, I wasn't able to find references, but it could be maybe in late 90s or early 2000s at the latest. I bought two of them in 2008-2009 and they weren't french anymore. I was very disappointed by the low quality of what is still a rather expensive shirt (>100 €/$), a thinner fabric, the color beginning to fade after just a few washes, the poor shape they take after some use and washing.
My first Lacoste was a red one that my french cousin brought to me in 1974, I wore it nearly everyday for at least three summers, it got hundreds of washes and the color is still nearly as strong as when it was new. And I will say more, that fabric had a particular smell that incredibly it still has today after 50 years!
In 1976 I bought a light blue one that got the same heavy usage and washes and that is still in good shape (except for some minor fraying under armpits from the years of use)
Of course now they are too small for me but I still own them and keep them as relics in my closet.
I bought some more in late 80s but I wore them less and I don't have them anymore so I don't remember if the quality was still the same than the two from the 70s.
Here is the red one from 1974

I searched the web for infos about vintage Lacoste labels that help to date them but I didn't find anything useful, so I put here some ideas from what I saw myself.
This is the same label of my first lacoste, as it was bought in 1974 I suppose it can be from late 60s/early 70s

This is like the one that is in mine bought in 1976 so it should be from 1975-1976

Then things get more difficult as I don't have anymore the ones from the 80s so I have no firm points to build on

I suppose the label without R (copyright) was previous to the one with the R mark so this is maybe from early 80s?:

And the one with the R mark maybe late 80s?

The last one I remember and found is this one with the size indicated, maybe 90s?

And this is one from the 2000s, not french anymore, absolutely avoid

I hope this can be of some help for those looking for old good Lacoste polos and if someone has more infos to complete or correct my deductions is very welcome.

 

[One Drop]

The old ones wore to a silky, thin, and luxuriously soft texture before beginning to fall apart, in France you'd see people wearing them for gardening and chores when they reached this point, they's still get a few more years wear out of them. Now buttons fall off, they rip at stress points, the cheap cotton fraying at the collar and cuffs, and not even getting that soft before becoming unwearable. They are really cheap quality, probably the most overpriced of all of the remaining or relaunched large recognisable clothing brands of the past that still exist and sell fairly well. I bet a counterfeit copy is better quality than what they pass off these days.

I also have a red one from the 70s I found on eBay a few years ago, still had the long tail, the collar is pretty large. I'll post some pictures of the label later today.

 

[attack_decay]

To confound things, the Lacoste name/logo was licensed to Izod to market in the USA from to 60s to the 90s. So these will have their own labels. Here is my Lacoste I've had for ages, probably late 80s or early 90s.

 

[ChewingWax]

I disagree that the current shirts should be avoided. The current polos are excellent. I have three made in Peru and they are fantastic shirts. The fabric remains uniquely comfortable.