The lifestyle brand, recognized and preferred by millions with its iconic polo horse logo, has been carrying a dream beyond expectations since its inception.
An overview…
Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American publicly traded fashion company founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces products ranging from the middle class to the luxury segment. It is known for marketing and distributing products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories and fragrance. The company’s brands range from the mid-range Chaps brand to the sub-premium Lauren Ralph Lauren brand, from the premium Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Ralph Lauren Childrenswear and Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren brands to the full luxury Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Ralph Lauren Collection brands. Ralph Lauren licenses its name and brand to Luxottica for eyewear; L’Oréal for fragrance and cosmetics; Hanesbrands for underwear and sleepwear; O5 Apparel for Chaps; Kohl’s and Hollander Sleep Products for bedding; Designers Guild for fabric and wallpaper; and EJ Victor for home furnishings.
A success story begins…
On October 14, 1939, a boy named Ralph was born in the Lifshitz family in Belarus. On the eve of the Second World War, the family of the future founder of the legendary fashion house moved to the United States to the Bronx, New York. In order not to stand out among the locals, the father of the family decided to change his surname, and the Lifshitzes became Lauren. Unlike other well-known fashion brand founders such as Lando Simonetti, young Ralph did not feel any attraction to art and even chose a technical education in economics, which he studied at Baruch College. However he did not graduate from college, because at that time the Vietnam war had started and all young people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight were sent to serve in the army. However Ralph was lucky and by the time he finished his military training, North and South Vietnam had declared a ceasefire. After serving in the army, in civilian life Lauren met a beautiful girl named Ricky Lowby. Less than a year later, the young men were married and to support his new family, Ralph Lauren decided to change jobs, taking a job as a sales assistant at Brooks Brothers department store. It was also at this time that he discovered his talent for design. At the time, Ralph was obsessed with the “classic American dream”, so he wanted to make money doing whatever he could. So he decided to capitalize on the talent he had discovered in himself and started making clothes for women, which turned out to be a good part-time job for him. However, Ralph was not satisfied with clothes and soon created his first real design, a silk tie for Rivetz & Co.
1967…
This year marked the beginning of great times for the Lauren family. Ralph took out a $50,000 loan, which was equivalent to $1 million by today’s standards, and started his own brand called “Polo Fashion”. This brand focused entirely on the design of clothing for polo players. There was no mystery to Ralph’s choice of this particular sport. Because at that time, in principle, people of aristocratic blood with a certain level of wealth played this sport. So the need to buy clothes for polo constantly brought them to Ralph Lauren’s brand. The fashion designer hoped to establish himself in the industry with the famous psychological technique called the “Pickle Bank”. The essence of this technique is that if a cucumber wants to become a pickled cucumber, it needs to get into a jar of pickles. Ralph Lauren dreamed of becoming a millionaire, as he had done before when he was growing his brand. That’s why he constantly wanted to communicate with people of high wealth and choose them as his target audience. This was the essence of Ralph’s American dream, carefully embroidering his talents and hard work into the fabric of his business and climbing the social ladder one step at a time, and he achieved it with far greater success than he ever imagined or expected.
Evolution into Polo Ralph Lauren…
One of the results of this success was that Ralph Lauren was awarded the Coty Award in 1970. This first award, which Ralph received for his activities in the fashion industry, was followed by many more awards in the following years. Ralph Lauren devoted all his soul, determination and enthusiasm to his work and managed to turn his polo clothing company into the most popular company in America in a short time. He had become a household name in the fashion industry and decided to use his own name to strengthen the position of his brand, changing the name of the company from “Polo Fashion” to “Polo Ralph Lauren”. This move was enormous. It increased brand awareness by up to three hundred percent in one year. This unprecedented success motivated Ralph to make more changes, so a brand new logo was created. The logo that the world knows today – a jockey on horseback reaching for his stick to hit the ball while playing polo – was unveiled with the first Polo Ralph Lauren collection in 1971. The men’s shirts in this collection attracted a lot of attention. So much so that the official Polo Ralph Lauren store sold out within the first three days of the collection’s launch, proving that all the changes made for brand positioning and awareness had paid off in spades. In the same year, the first independent store opened on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. By 1972, Polo Ralph Lauren debuted the garment with which the brand is probably most associated: the polo shirt. Although the first polo shirt was invented by René Lacoste, Ralph Lauren was able to redevelop the garment. Thus, Ralph Lauren’s polo shirt is made of interlock, not cotton pique. The new version of the polo shirt, with its iconic logo on the chest, quickly established itself and embodied the sporty yet elegant stance that Polo Ralph Lauren was all about. In 1974, Ralph Lauren outfitted the male cast of The Great Gatsby with costumes selected from the Polo line of 1920s-style men’s suits and sweaters, with the exception of the pink suit specially designed for Robert Redford’s Jay Gatsby. In 1977, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen wore Lauren’s clothes in the Oscar-winning film Annie Hall. That same year, Ralph Lauren introduced a new cotton knit polo shirt in various colors with the polo player logo on the chest. The first Ralph Lauren fragrances produced by Warner-Lauren were launched at Bloomingdale’s in 1978. Lauren cologne for women and Polo cologne for men were highly acclaimed. This launch is also notable as the first example of a designer introducing two fragrances at the same time, one for men and one for women.
It is becoming an international brand…
The eighties would be a pivotal decade for the brand. With the rise of the preppy and collegiate look in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Polo Ralph Lauren became an integral part of many styles both on and off campus. As the brand established itself in elite circles of young adults from more affluent families, a group called the Lo Lifes took the brand’s identity and made it their own. Lo Lifes was a Brooklyn-based subculture centered around Polo Ralph Lauren. The “Lo” here comes from Polo. The movement was particularly active in the 80s and 90s and spread widely. At the core of Lo Lifes was wearing Polo Ralph Lauren from head to toe. What made Polo Ralph Lauren central was the brand’s association with elite college kids, especially from the Ivy Leagues around the country. Since many members of the various Lo Life groups tended to come from lower social circles, many of the Polo pieces were stolen rather than bought, especially in the beginning, so the increased attention left a bitter aftertaste in the brand. Nevertheless, Lo Lifes represents an important part of the brand’s history. By showing how Polo Ralph Lauren products could be stylized in a different way, this movement created a unique brand image. Ralph Lauren went international in 1981 when it opened its first standalone store on New Bond Street in the West End of London, England. This store was quickly followed by openings in different countries in Europe. Ralph Lauren opened his first flagship store in 1986 at the Rhinelander mansion on Madison Avenue and 72nd Street in New York City.
A new friend joins the Polo horse…
Polo Ralph Lauren, which has become a globally recognized and preferred brand, introduced the Polo Teddy Bear mascot in 1991. Jerry Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s brother and avid collector of Steiff bears, receives a Steiff bear dressed as himself as a gift from his colleagues. At the same time, Ralph Lauren also receives a bear dressed in a Western look. Not only was a new tradition born for the brand, but Ralph Lauren was so inspired by the Steiff bears that he incorporated them into his designs in two different ways. The first was a limited edition teddy bear produced in collaboration with Steiff. The second was a bear design that found its new home on sweatshirts, t-shirts or denim jackets, for example. Together with the horse logo, the polo bear became the brand’s icon. Even today, sweatshirts with a preppy bear in particular have a large fan base.
2000s…
Polo Ralph Lauren, the fashion brand was repeatedly represented in the TV series of the 90s. However, the phenomenal TV series Friends, which is still watched over and over again today, tackled Polo Ralph Lauren directly. Not only were there little allusions to the brand in the famous series; one of the main characters, Rachel, worked at Polo Ralph Lauren. Moreover, Ralph Lauren himself made a guest appearance in the series. Polo Ralph Lauren even released a Friends collection in 2019. Ralph Lauren Cooperation became a public company on the New York Stock Exchange on June 12, 1997. The company launched its website and online store in 2000 as polo.com by RL Media in collaboration with NBC. In 2007, Ralph Lauren Corporation acquired RL Media’s stake in NBC and the website was relaunched as ralphlauren.com. In September 2015, it was announced that Stefan Larsson would succeed company founder Ralph Lauren as Ceo. Lauren continued as Chairman of the Board and Creative Director. In February 2017, it was announced that Larsson had agreed to step down as Ceo effective May 1, 2017 due to disagreements with Ralph Lauren. On May 17, 2017, Ralph Lauren appointed Patrice Louvet as President and Ceo. Patrice Louvet was most recently President of the Global Beauty Group at Procter & Gamble and took over on July 17, 2017. In October 2020, Ralph Lauren Corporation announced that it would transition the Chaps brand to a fully licensed business model to focus on its core brands, reduce the direct exposure of its North American department store channel, and build the Chaps brand to be nurtured with an experienced partner. In October of the same year, Ralph Lauren Corporation appointed former Obama Administration Advisor Valerie Jarrett to its Board of Directors. In May 2021, Ralph Lauren Corporation announced that it would sell the Club Monaco brand to private equity firm Regent LP. Today, the company, which continues to achieve success with its solid foundations, stands out with its qualities that set an example for many brands in social responsibility issues. With its numerous collections and wide range of products, it continues to strengthen in the direction drawn by a young designer and businessman who realized the American dream.
Ralph Lauren Eyewear
Ralph Lauren and Polo Ralph Lauren designer eyewear from the 1980s onwards is characterized by an all-American approach, timeless style, classic designs with a modern outlook. Polo Ralph Lauren frames range from Western-inspired metal details that showcase the highest quality craftsmanship to vintage styles that reflect classic elegance. On February 27, 2006, Luxottica Group, the world leader in premium and luxury eyewear, announced a ten-year license agreement with Ralph Lauren Corporation for the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution of prescription frames and sunglasses under the Polo Ralph Lauren name. The agreement, which will commence for Luxottica Group and Ralph Lauren Corporation on January 1, 2007, is expected to have a sales value in excess of US$1.75 billion over its term. The terms included an advance royalty payment of US$199 million, which was due over the ten-year term of the agreement. After a decade of numerous successful and stunning collections, Luxottica Group and Ralph Lauren Corporation on December 22, 2016 renewed their exclusive license agreement for a new ten-year term for the development, manufacture and worldwide distribution of sunglasses and prescription frames under certain Ralph Lauren brands, including Polo and Ralph Lauren. The iconic brand continues to offer unique looks that are perfect for anyone looking to stand out from the crowd, and while the designs are modern and fresh, they still have a touch of classic Ralph Lauren style.
June 2023
