Fashion Designer Ralph Lauren has become the epitome of classic fashion.

With product lines such as

Polo/Ralph Lauren for Men, Ralph Lauren for Women, Double RL, Ralph Lauren Home, and even Ralph
Lauren paint, it makes us wonder who the man behind the label really is.

Born Ralph Lifshitz on October 14, 1939, in the Bronx, New York, Ralph Lauren has come a long way
from his days of sharing a bedroom with two of his brothers. Growing up in a middle-class Jewish family,
Ralph and his three older brothers were raised by his mother, while his artist father painted houses.

Lauren's fashion sense was apparent at an early age when he would purchase
expensive suits with the money he earned working at his after-school job.
Although he knew he could find his clothes at a less expensive price, he made it
a point to look stylish in his expensive threads -- and he has succeeded at
looking cool in his attire since the age of 12.

One would think that Lauren attended fashion design school, but he actually
studied business at City College in Manhattan, and dropped out short of
receiving his business degree.

Student by night, Lauren would work by day at two glove companies as a salesman. He then worked for
a tie manufacturer named A. Rivetz & Co., which ultimately led to the fashion empire he leads today.

While working at A. Rivetz & Co., Lauren began designing wide ties, which spawned his first
entrepreneurial career. With his tie designs and a $50,000 loan, Lauren founded the company Polo
Fashions in 1968. Along with his older brother, he chose the name Polo because of the power, style and
intrigue that the brand has always been associated with.

The Polo brand known today as the preppy English-tweed look it conveys did not get to be a million
dollar empire because Lauren was lucky, nor because Lauren had an immaculate sense of style. Lauren
not only had an innovative mind, but he also knew that packaging and presentation were of utmost
importance -- something he didn't need to learn while studying for his business degree.

In the late 60's, while Lauren was trying to develop his line of wide ties, Bloomingdale's insisted Lauren
remove his name from the ties' label, and make his ties narrower. Not giving into the retail giant
Bloomingdale's, Lauren stuck to his guns and refused to sell to the department store under such
circumstances. Suffice it to say, the retailer came back crawling to Lauren
and his ties under his terms, after having seen the brand's success. The
rest as they say, is history.

While Polo was considered the "power suit" of the early 80's, Armani had brought the Italian power suit
back in style later on in the decade, which pushed aside Polo's preppy look. Lauren had fought back with
his sophisticated line of men's shirts and suits, made of fine fabrics. He successfully catered to the office
worker who wanted to look stylish, while looking powerful in the office.
Next came Lauren's line of women's clothing, followed by his home collection line consisting of sheets,
towels and furniture in the early 80's.

It is Lauren's innovativeness, among many other traits of the model businessman, that has made him the
founder, designer and chairman of a $900 million company. Not only was he the first fashion designer to
have his own store, but he was the first to sell the whole lifestyle image that consumers flock to
worldwide. Lauren sells much more than clothes and home furnishings; he sells a lifestyle image of
sophistication, class and taste.

His keen business sense, ability to stand by his product at all costs and ability to prevail despite several
business failures are what make him a man whose net worth is $1 billion. A man whose car collection
ranges from a 1929 Bentley and a 1937 Alfa Romeo, to a 1938 Bugatti and a 1962 Ferrari.

A man who owns a ranch in Colorado, homes in Jamaica and Long Island, an estate in Bedford, New York
to add to his Fifth Avenue Manhattan address. A man who offers everyone the opportunity to look as
good as he does, simply by purchasing his products.

His line of clothing and home collection have the taste and snobbism -- minus the flashiness -- that make
the Ralph Lauren/Polo brand timeless.

Between school and his career move into the fashion industry, Lauren served in the United States Army
from 1962-1964, and married Ricky Low-Beer after his army days. He is also the father of three children,
Andrew, David and Dylan.

Polo prefers licensing over manufacturing; it oversees many licensees as well as more than 350 contract
manufacturers worldwide. The firm operates about 275 retail and outlet stores in the US and licenses
more than 100 others worldwide. Founder Ralph Lauren still controls almost 90% of Polo's voting power.
Since its inception in 1968, Ralph Lauren has become a powerful global empire that has put its
stamp on everything from tuxedos to tennis skirts. Lauren began with a handmade line of wide,
colorful ties and menswear, which paved the way to launch his own in-store boutique in
Bloomingdale's in 1969. The designer expanded to encompass womenswear (1971), his signature
polo shirts (1972), fragrance (1978), home furnishings (1983), sportswear (1993), paint (1995),
denim (1996), and even a restaurant, in Chicago in 1999. Lauren’s lavish Madison Avenue
flagship was built into the renovated Rhinelander mansion in 1986, a retail space that doubles as
an opulent, high-end boutique and a tourist attraction. Though the label is perhaps best associated
with its signature preppy polo shirts and tweed blazers, Lauren has shown range and innovation
each season, from the cowboy-inspired looks of the seventies to the Santa Fe prints of the
eighties to the more recent high-fashion twenties safari looks of the 2000s. The apparel is divided
into a dozen lines, including the purple label for men’s eveningwear and hand-tailored suiting,
the black label for women’s eveningwear, RLX for ski, golf, and tennis attire, and Rugby for a
more youthful buyer. Today, the iconic polo emblem adorns everything from Pink Pony tees
benefiting cancer research to tiny plaid high-tops for tykes and miniature polos for pets. The
Ralph lifestyle has shown staggering staying power, thanks to loyal fans who ride horses, get
chauffeured in Town Cars, and everything in between.

Status
Established, Household Name
Clients
Rebecca Romijn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Blake Lively, Oprah Winfrey
Other Product Lines
Fragrances, Home, Handbags, Jeans, Shoes, Sneakers
Owned By
Polo is a public company. The board of directors includes Terry Semel, CEO of Yahoo,
and Joyce Brown, president of F.I.T.

 Ralph Lauren Collection

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 1969 - Present
Shows In-New York
Collection Type-RTW, Resort
Similar Clientele-Calvin Klein
Styles & Tags-American, Red Carpet

 Ralph Lauren Puple Label Menswear

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 1994 - Present
Shows In-New York
Collection Types-Menswear
Similar Clientele-Ermenegildo Zegna
Styles & Tags-American, Power Dressing
 Ralph Lauren Black Label

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 2005 - Present
Collection Types-RTW, Menswear
Styles & Tags-American, High Society

 Polo Ralph Lauren

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 1968 - Present
Collection Types-Menswear
Styles & Tags-American, Casual

 Ralph Lauren Blue Label

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 2002 - Present
Collection Types-RTW
Styles & Tags-American, Sporty

 Lauren Ralph Lauren

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 2003 - Present
Collection Types-Mass Market
Styles & Tags -American, Lower Priced

 Rugby

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 2004 - Present
Collection Types - Mass Market
Styles & Tags -American, Lower Priced

 Ralph Lauren Pink Pony

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 2000 - Present
Collection Types- Mass Market
Styles & Tags -American, Casual, Lower Priced

 Ralph Lauren Tennis

Designed By
 Ralph Lauren, 2005 - Present
Collection Types
Mass Market
Styles & Tags
American, Sporty

 Ralph Lauren Golf

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 1987 - Present
Collection Types- Mass Market
Styles & Tags -American, Sporty


 RLX

Designed By
Ralph Lauren, 1998 - Present
Collection Types- Mass Market
Styles & Tags - American, Sporty

Designers
What's Been Said

 “I always resented the fact that people were so impressed with Europe. I think I've built
something beyond the fashion business. A way of living. It's about taste, quality of life,
another dimension of your persona.”

—Ralph Lauren Men's Vogue

 “Like a Henry James character, he [Lauren] is the last true idealist about America's
imagination of itself. That makes him the greatest ambassador of American style.”

—Harold Koda, curator at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan

Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. has been named Luxury Marketer of the Year, the most prestigious
award in luxury marketing.

The New York-based lifestyle brand beat out runner-up Louis Vuitton and third-place finisher
Burberry for the top honor. The apparel-to-furnishings group earned the accolade on the strength
of an unparalleled multichannel strategy that blazed new trails in the world of interactive
marketing while continuing its rich and distinct brand story in print and beyond – all leading to
double-digit growth in 2010.

 “Creating a luxury brand is one thing, but maintaining its marketing aura across good times and
bad, traditional media and new, takes genius and Ralph Lauren,” said Mickey Alam Khan, editor
in chief of Luxury Daily, New York. “Ralph Lauren’s marketing has become a byword for
excellence with consistent creative messaging and effective call to action in an era where
luxury brands struggle to retain their mystique,” he said. “Marketing well done is all about
stoking desire from turn of page, click of mouse, tap of phone or opening of mail. “The pony
gets it in a gallop.”Ralph Lauren was named 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year, itself the most
prestigious honor in mobile marketing (se