How old is ralph lauren company

The Polo empire began in the late s, when Lauren, then a clothing salesman, got sick of selling other people's neckties and decided to design and sell his own. Lauren had no experience in fashion design, but he had grown up in the New York fashion world, selling men's gloves, suits, and ties. In , he went to his employer, Abe Rivetz, with a proposal to design a line of ties, but Rivetz told him, "The world is not ready for Ralph Lauren.

What did I know? That I was a salesman. That I was honest. And that all I wanted was quality. The company, Polo Fashions, Inc. The company designed, manufactured, and distributed the Polo collection, which met with the approval of both the department stores that featured the clothes and the fashion critics who praised their style.

Fashion critic Bernadine Morris was quoted in Time as saying, "He's acquired a certain reputation for clothes that are, you know, with it.

But not too with it. Not enough to shock the boys at the bank. In a rare move, Lauren then began designing clothes for women as well as for men. The rapid growth of Polo Fashions, Inc. By , according to Time, "Lauren suddenly discovered that his enterprise was almost bankrupt because of poor financial management and the costs of headlong expansion. The arrangement gave Lauren 90 percent and Strom 10 percent ownership.

Strom described their duties to the New York Times Magazine: "We divide the work this way: I do everything Ralph doesn't want to do; and I don't do anything he likes to do. He designs, he does advertising, public relations; I do the rest.

During its first four years, Polo Fashions, Inc. Their first step in reorganization was to concentrate on what they did best--design--and leave the rest to other companies.

With this in mind, Polo Fashions, Inc. Under licensing agreements, the designer got a cut of wholesale revenues--usually between 5 and 8 percent for Polo, according to Forbes --and shared in advertising costs. Such agreements would be the basis for Polo's future business. Beginning in the mid s, Polo Fashions, Inc.

From being a designer and licenser of limited lines of men's and women's clothing, the company expanded its products to include fragrances, eyewear, shoes, accessories, housewares, and a range of other products. Yet even as the number of products bearing the brand names "Polo" or "Ralph Lauren" expanded, the image of the company became more secure and more singular. Soon, people were speaking of the "Laurenification of America," crediting Ralph Lauren with creating a unique American aesthetic, and calling the s the "decade of Ralph Lauren.

Fashion critics and journalists used words like integrity, elegance, tradition, sophistication, WASPy, mannered, pseudo-English, and sporty to describe Lauren's many designs. Yet no single word could encompass the many themes--from the famous English Polo Club designs to the distinctly American western designs--with which Lauren experimented.

Some critics complained that Lauren was a relentless borrower, possessed of no unique vision. Lauren himself stated in New York that he was interested in "style but not flamboyance, but sophistication, class, and an aristocratic demeanor that you can see in people like Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. They're things I love and can't get away from. There are some things in life that, no matter what the times are, keep getting better and better.

That's really my philosophy. Polo excelled at getting Lauren's distinctive design image across to consumers. From its very first advertisements in New York City newspapers in , the company attempted to portray its products as part of a complete lifestyle.

Advertise with us. All rights reserved. Data Disclaimer Help Suggestions. Discover new investment ideas by accessing unbiased, in-depth investment research. Patrice Jean Louis Louvet. Jane Hamilton Nielsen. Andrew Howard Smith. Janet M. Chief Information Officer. Corinna Van der Ghinst. 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.

He subsequently created a fall collection inspired by the show and sponsored its final season in Polo expanded rapidly in the s and s, opening boutiques across the United States and abroad.

With Goldman Sachs having purchased more than a quarter of the company in the mids, Polo Ralph Lauren went public on June 11, , trading under the symbol RL. After a year of falling shares, Lauren stepped aside as chief executive of Ralph Lauren Corp. Lauren took on the role of executive chairman and chief creative officer of the company he founded.

The Laurens are the parents of three children: Andrew, David and Dylan.