In the late 1940s, Perry was approached by Tibby Wegner, an Austrian footballer who had invented an anti-perspirant device worn around the wrist. Perry made a few changes to create the first sweatband.
Wegner's next idea was to produce a sports shirt, which was to be made from white knitted cotton pique with short sleeves and a buttoned placket like René Lacoste's shirts. Launched at Wimbledon in 1952, the Fred Perry tennis shirt was an immediate success.[7]
The white tennis shirt was only supplemented in the late '50s when mods began demanding more varied colour palettes. The Fred Perry shirt became the garment-of-choice for diverse groups of teenagers throughout the 1960s and '70s, ranging from the skinheads to the Northern soul scene.
The brand's logo is a laurel wreath. It was based on the original symbol for Wimbledon.[7] The logo, which appears on the left breast of a garment, is stitched into the fabric of the shirt.[19]
The brand is now owned by a Japanese corporation.[20] The brand was previously the clothing sponsor of British tennis player Andy Murray.