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Monday 15 June 2009

Ralph Lauren -Superbrand?

What is a Superbrand? Well its not an official term but if there was such an award then no doubt it'd go to Ralph Lauren. Why?....I don't need to explain why but I will anyway.

Whoever you are, whatever style your rockin, street, neat, road, preppy it doesn't matter. Ralphy is looking after us all. They are most definitely not new on the block, they've been holding it down nicely since 1967.

Ralph Lauren (Ralph Lifshitz) launches 'Polo' with a range of ties and stating...

"I’m not a fashion person. I’m anti-fashion. I don’t like to be part of that world. It’s too transient. I have never been influenced by it. I’m interested in longevity, timelessness, style—not fashion."

That sentence is why I love Ralph Lauren. All you fashionable trendy types studying 'fashion' please take note.

The legendary polo shirt was launched in 1972 in 24 colours, at the time no other brand was offering as much quality and variety, this is the reason the polo shirt became an instant success. At the same time the preppy look was what Ralphy was truly passionate about, this look formed the back bone to the Ralph Lauren brand for years to come.

ralphyplus

In his 1979 Westernwear collections Ralphy goes back to the American heritage style, the cowboy look forms one of his first places of inspiration.

ralphywestern

The late 70's also saw Ralphy take his advertising up several notches. He saw how necessary good advertising was and made moves to keep his adverts innovative. From the styling to the choice of location all Ralph Lauren adverts are on point. I was first made aware of them in the 90's, flicking through magazines the Ralphy ads stood out like the Benetton's ones did....minimal text and bold colours.

ralphdone

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ralphyad

I remember back in school when we all had our Raplph Lauren Polo's and Harrington's, this was when the UK market was flooded with fakes. Kids used to come up to your shirt, look at the embroidered horse and say "yep...thats a snide your horse has only got 3 legs." Haha Brilliant. Ralph Lauren survived this time and maybe used this free advertising as a platform to kick on.

1993 saw Ralphy launch 'Polo Sport' this came at a time when the US was taking sports and fitness more seriously. Ralphy saw this opportunity and capitalised, becoming the official outfitter for the US team it was a move that placed 'Polo' as the leading lifestyle and fitness brand in the US.

ralphyolympic

As always the best Ralphy garms are hard to find. The US website usually holds some strong collections and their sales are pretty good. But the killer stuff some can only be found in deadstock. One store that specialises is KILLER deadstock garms is FRUITION. If you don't know then go enjoy the fruits of their handpicked labour.

ralphdone2

ralphdone4

ralphdone3

ralphdone5

Long live Ralph Lauren

On a different tip check these 'fans' out...

17 comments:

@OllieDanger said...

I coulda put my life on someone saying that.

Yawn!

Jeffrey Dahmer said...

This is just embarrassing.

@misterlego said...

always saw polo rl as premium brand rather than a super brand . . . personally

@misterlego said...

oh and nice post . . .

Anonymous said...

you jacked this from Jake Davis...

Anonymous said...

is it just me or does supreme look like abit of a Ralph copy when you see all these images

Supreme is just making slightly more 'street' cuts of Ralph...

what u rekon??

Anonymous said...

^ Well duh.

Anonymous said...

nah, i dont think supreme take much inspiration from ralph at all.
Supreme is practical gear, manufactured well on the premise of good looking and fashionable work and skate wear.
Brand like Pegleg, BBC on the other hand have DEFINATELY took a bit TOO much inspiration from ralph, verging on biting

Anonymous said...

course preme copies rl. look at early shit. if u wer nurturing a brand in early 90s ny th influence of polo is defs gonna b ther!

Anonymous said...

ye but its a marginal influence in comparison to others.
There were MUCH stronger and more popular styles in NY in the 90's than polo.
Pelle Pelle probably influence preme more and thats not even significant enough to ever be mentioned

Anonymous said...

Supreme has "borrowed" so many designs from RL.

The most obvious this season is the Moutain Parka

million man rush said...

"just cos u wear polo it dont u mean u a lo life"

marco polo said...

one L dont mean nothing without the other
LO-LIFES
LOVE & LOYALTY

Thirstin Howl KING OF NEW YORK underground rap scene!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nick Lewis said...

Awesome post, 88 Keys is a serious Polo collector. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzYaNjkOwuA

NOFACE said...

watch "just for kicks" and you'll see they love ralph/polo

The Teacher said...

funny how for a man who is anti fashion, he puts on catwalk shows.

More 'im too cool' business from the top

You only have to read this to see there are a handful of contradictions

I dont know if this is through the blogger or the original author however.

And to the anonymous person doubting Supreme 'alter' Ralph, gtfo!!!!!

BBC bites Supreme who alter RL for people who like nike's.

As the meercat would say, simples.

Anonymous said...

dun kno too many raasssclarrt fasseys gonna get took for der yeezys and ting