And over the years, the Polo bear has evolved, changed outfits , and been embraced by the brand's stans, including the Lo-Life crew. Rack-Lo, who founded the Lo-Lifes in the late eighties, told Fashionista of the style: "We wore the bears and exposed them, and they became an item that people valued and still cherish.
If you're a true collector, having multiple bears in your Polo collection is mandatory. The year was In one episode, "The One With Ross's Teeth," she gets caught up in some salacious office gossip, involving Lauren himself—and the designer makes his one and only cameo in the series, for a single, awkwardly silent elevator ride. The designer has continued to have a presence in entertainment over the years. He's outfitted some particularly notable characters on television.
Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope was partial to the brand too—its coats in particular—on Scandal. Of all the high-profile, celebrity-heavy events on the calendar, the Met Gala stands out among Ralph Lauren's red-carpet record.
Such memorable instances include Blake Lively's first-ever! One could even say he's played matchmaker at the Met…. See next slide. With its avant-garde interpretation of a classic silhouette and dramatically long train , it became an instant meme. Perhaps the most notable part of the evening, though, was that the brand also dressed Nick Jonas, so the two walked the red carpet together…and, well, the rest is history. At the ceremony, in June, he got another tribute from the organization, the Member's Salute , in which various colleagues—from Tommy Hilfiger to Michael Kors—honored his 50 years in the business.
It also has created pieces for other major sporting events over the years, like Wimbledon and the U. It doesn't get more Americana than that. Rewards Free Stuff Promos. Courtesy of Ralph Lauren. Archive Photos. United Artists.
Yui Mok - PA Images. More from Glamour. Chris Jackson. Ralph was known for his distinctive fashion sense as a teen, finding inspiration in screen icons like Fred Astaire and Cary Grant while having a taste for both classic preppy wear and vintage looks.
He went on to attend Baruch College in Manhattan, where he studied business for two years. After a brief stint in the Army, Lauren took on a sales job at Brooks Brothers. In , Lauren was awarded the Coty Award for his men's designs. Following this recognition, he released a line of women's suits tailored in a classic men's style. Then in , Lauren released a short-sleeve cotton shirt in 24 colors. Lauren is known for capitalizing on an aspirational style and key insignia which evokes the British gentry while also referencing the aesthetics of the American upper class.
His fashion ideas have been criticized by some for not being particularly innovative while also embraced by scores of consumers who prefer more approachable looks. Lauren subsequently broadened his brand to include a luxury clothing line known as Ralph Lauren Purple, a rough and rustic line of apparel dubbed RRL, a home-furnishing collection called Ralph Lauren Home and a set of fragrances. Polo currently produces clothing for men, women and children and has hundreds of internationally placed stores, including factory stores that produce the majority of his sales domestically.
Lauren has also designed Olympic uniforms for Team USA, though controversy ensued when it was discovered that the competitors' attire for the summer games was made in China. During the s, Lauren made his foray into the film business as well, further cementing his status as a classic American designer by outfitting cast members for the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby , starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.
Lauren also received credit for helping to outfit the cast of 's The Wild Party , another early 20th-century outing starring James Coco and Raquel Welch. The designer then became well known for Diane Keaton 's rather distinctive looks in the comedy Annie Hall. Decades later, Lauren would be enamored by a show that wholeheartedly reflects his particular vision, the PBS series Downton Abbey. Club Monaco: This Canadian-based specialty retailer which sells designer lookalike casual apparel for both men and women was acquired by Ralph Lauren in This was a growth strategy that aimed to provide a venue of choice for youth aged 15 — 25 who aspired towards well-fitted, fine clothing with modern, urban sophistication.
Pink Pony: Established in , the Pink Pony campaign is a global initiative that was set up to show support towards cancer victims. A proportion of Pink Pony product sales goes towards the Pink Pony Fund and other large cancer charities across the world.
It offers a variety of clothing from t-shirts and dresses to overalls and loafers. It was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is inspired by the style of artists, painters, musicians and poets who inhabited there. With its lower price point and accessibility, it targets the younger crowd who is less interested in luxury and refinement. Chaps: This brand is similar to the Lauren by Ralph Lauren brand, and offers casual sportswear and dresses at a slightly lower price point.
It draws on authentic inspirations, from nautical styles to American vogue, and offers apparel for men, women and children as well as home accessories. The above sub-brands allow Ralph Lauren to operate in many segments of the fashion apparel market and capture value in ways that do not cannibalize the other brands in the portfolio. Leveraging its strong brand equity in the fashion apparel market, Ralph Lauren has also extended the brand to watches and fine jewellery, categories that are natural extensions of fashion and luxury.
The brand has also extended into other product categories such as:. It offers furniture, bed and bath linens, china, crystal, silver, decorative accessories, gifts, lighting, fabric, wall and floorcovering, and photography artwork. Today, it has expanded into a variety of 10 fragrances for men, 9 fragrances for women and 3 unisex fragrances.
Just like how its fashion brands are strongly inspired by Americana, the food is inspired by American classics and modern city-club cuisine — think seafood, steaks, chops, sandwiches and salads. In , it opened its first coffee shop on the second floor of the Polo Ralph Lauren flagship store in Manhattan.
In , it opened The Polo Bar in the heart of New York, offering a more casual yet refined setting for food and drink. The RL Restaurants are indeed a great way to present another channel for consumers to experience the Ralph Lauren brand, rather than just its fashion and home products. Through extending into multiple product categories, Ralph Lauren has been able to leverage its brand equity to have a presence in these lucrative sectors.
It is truly a success story of classic brand management — appealing to a broad category of discerning, fashion conscious consumers through holistic brand equity encompassing multiple categories combined with a high-quality product experience. Brand architecture management: Strong brands provide companies with a very powerful tool to enter newer markets with limited investment, by leveraging their strong brand equity.
It provides companies with opportunities to create multiple revenue streams. Therefore it is not a surprise that most strong brands have leveraged their equity and extended into newer product categories, newer markets, and newer market segments. However this strategy has its own pitfalls.
One of them is the risk of dilution of brand equity by over-stretching the brand into too many product and market segments. Some examples of brand equity dilution due to overstretch are those of Calvin Klein and Pierre Cardin. One of the many reasons that these brands diluted their equity was the use of the brand name on a very wide range of products. By franchising their brand names to almost every conceivable product category, the brands significantly diluted their equity.
This was because of a simple reason — a brand cannot have transferable equity in different product categories. In the last 50 years, the Ralph Lauren brand has expanded to create a diverse portfolio of sub-brands, of which 17 are fashion brands and 4 lifestyle brands. With such a burgeoning portfolio, Ralph Lauren has to be more focused and careful about managing and maintaining the equity of the master brand. It also becomes more complex to maintain a consistent brand personality across all marketing and communication efforts, especially when the sub-brands do need to talk to different consumer segments who in turn have different and discerning needs.
Over the long term, the performance of acquired brands also needs to be analyzed in isolation and also in relation to the wider portfolio. In continuation of its strategy of expanding into categories that have synergies with high-end fashion, Ralph Lauren may keep on exploring opportunities. With the master brand already quite stretched, it would need to take these decisions more carefully. Whatever category the expansion is into, and regardless of whether it is via an acquisition or through the launch of a new sub-brand, Ralph Lauren would need to ensure that the spirit of the brand lives through in a holistic manner.
Additionally, the integration of new sub-brands or acquired brands into the architecture of the portfolio will always remain challenging. Store profitability and inventory management: Another challenge that Ralph Lauren faces is store profitability and inventory management. This has had an effect on its bottom-line. As such, new management has expressed that it has plans to close about 50 high end stores to improve store profitability and reduce inventory as most of the inventory was subject to heavy discounting.
Given that customer insights are the holy grail of modern business, the more companies know about their customers, the better they can innovate and compete. One very good example of a company that has successfully leveraged its customer research capabilities to improve inventory management is Zara.
This has allowed them to accurately supply fashion that resonates with customers in almost perfect quantities, resulting in the discounting of a very small proportion of its products, approximately half compared to its competitors — a very impressive feat. Similarly, Ralph Lauren needs to also do the same and consider how it is using its customer intelligence capabilities to anticipate demand more accurately and respond with optimum levels of supply.
As the main competitive advantage for the company is the founder himself, life after the founder is a hard topic for both the founder and company to discuss. Ralph Lauren himself has a net worth of USD 5. With regard to corporate governance, as the brand continues into a new chapter, the search for a new CEO has ended. However, due to differences in opinion over direction, Stefan Larsson departed from the company in May In a bid to make Ralph Lauren a leaner company, the company has recently eliminated layers of management through restructuring.
For instance, the office of the chairman has been eliminated and the duties have been absorbed. It is expected that this will help improve efficiency within the organization, hence leading to greater profitability. Another growing challenge that Ralph Lauren may face is to be able to appeal to a new generation of consumers.
To sustain the brand appeal to consumers who are now more digital savvy and have higher expectations in the 21st century, there are a few important issues that Ralph Lauren needs to tackle in the next years.
The need for product line optimization has already been recognised. As part of the most recent restructuring exercise, a decision has been taken to reduce the number of lines the brand produces. Ralph Lauren has plans to venture into the accessories space, which includes handbags and small leather goods to leverage its brand equity and also hedge the brand against the strong headwinds running through the global fashion industry.
A great example of a luxury fashion brand that has leveraged its strong brand equity and ventured into multiple product categories is Giorgio Armani. By leveraging its expert knowledge of the fashion and luxury industry, Armani has been able to come up with winning concepts in other product lines that include cosmetics, watches, jewellery and eye wear. Instead of blindly experimenting with product categories, Ralph Lauren should conduct an expertise and capability check, which will help it identify the categories where it can extend the brand and showcase expertise and deliver using existing operational capabilities.
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