Mar 27, 2003/ FWD/ -- It may sound like yet another comeback story: Le Tigre, the striped sport shirt label started in the late '70s to give Lacoste's crocodile a little rumble in the jungle, is re-launching for fall 2003. But unlike all the other brands brought back from decades past - labels heavy on kitsch but light on direction -- Le Tigre intends to become a strong force in the world of sportswear.

"No one - not Lacoste, not Fred Perry - are doing this many colors, this many stripe variations, this quality of fabric; all at this low of a price point," argues Le Tigre's President and CEO Ryan O'Sullivan, eyeing the boards of candy store-colored striped patterns, some vintage-inspired, some thoroughly modern, which will make up the premiere collection of shirts.

O'Sullivan and his partner, Gerrity Lansing, bought the business from a bankrupt Hampton Industries in July 2002 with the intention of offering better-looking, better-feeling variations of the cotton shirts they and their third partner, Caley Rogan, grew up wearing. "We definitely want to keep the brand history intact," vows O'Sullivan. "But we also want to update it with new silhouettes and new fabrics. The point is to offer a cool sportswear line that appeals as much to skateboarders as to hip-hop artists, as to that kid backpacking in Colorado."

As for the classic leaping tiger logo, the team hasn't changed a thing. They have, however, altered the name logo, reducing the size of the "Le" and placing it over the "i" in lieu of a dot.

It's not a French company, O'Sullivan points out. Rather, it was started by an American, named Bob Rush, who was poking fun at the French and their fancy sport shirts. "And he ended up making something so much better. I mean, how cool is the tiger?" Apparently so cool that electroclash It-girl band "Le Tigre" named themselves after it. And Nikolai Fraiture, the bassist for The Strokes, uses the term to affectionately refer to his East Village side-part shag.

Taking that cool factor established by Rush and building on it, the re-launched label will now include women's wear. "Not doing it is the one thing Rush regrets," says O'Sullivan, who tracked down the septuagenarian at his antique shop near Albany, where he moved after selling off his company.

Much like the men's, the women's clothes will be preppy, but cool; basic, but with the right touch of urban edge. They will also be -- for the first collection -- tightly focused. "Just tops," Rogan states simply. It is in "year two" that the guys anticipate the label to include all the shapes and concepts currently being thrown at them by fashionable friends and family - people like former Vanity Fair fashion editor Patricia Herrera, who recently married Lansing.

"Yeah, people are really freaking out over Le Tigre," laughs O'Sullivan, who fielded 15 calls from wannabe buyers last week. "Including me - I can't fall sleep I'm so excited." Maybe he should count leaping tigers.