Polo

Fashion and Footwear

Polo was founded in 1976 by Gordon Joffe along with two former Monatic executives, Ronnie Lange and Freddie Barnet, and Stuart Shub from Rex Trueform. Gordon Joffe had previously headed the shirt division at Monatic, and then became the driving force behind the Polo brand. Gordon was passionate about mens’ shirts and sought to be ‘the country’s quality lounge shirt producer’. His factory L’uomo in Lansdowne produced the first Polo shirts with the trademark square button. The Polo shirt soon became synonymous with the best of quality. The Polo factory became a leading manufacturer of shirts in South Africa, also producing for prominent local brands. Polo now employs a vast array of specialist designers, buyers, planners, merchandisers and a procurement team that delivers seasonal collections of menswear, womenswear, kid’s apparel, homeware and accessories.