COMPANY PROJECT ANALYSIS

Polo Ralph Lauren is America’s iconic fashion and design company founded by Ralph Lauren. The brand is built on a critical lifestyle promise and has always been known for its high quality apparel products such as polo shirts. This paper analyzes the Polo Ralph Lauren brand in terms of its historical background, some of its brands and the features in the fashion and design industry. Typically the company started with making of ties and later ventured into other businesses. It represents a combination of American heritage and exquisite craftsmanship, thus it personifies the American dream. The company’s high level of quality in crafting distinct brands gives it a unique identity over other companies in the same industry. The paper will analyze how the company became very competitive in the ever-changing fashion industry in the world.

Table of Contents Abstract 2 Historical Background of Polo Ralph Lauran 4 Overview 4 The Ralph Lauren lines 4 Polo Ralph Lauren 4 Polo Sport 5 Polo Ralph Lauren Children 5 Pink Pony 5 How Polo Ralph Lauren Company Started 5 SWOT Analysis 8 Strengths: 8 Weaknesses 8 Opportunities 9 Threats 9 Financial Position and Competitor Analysis 9 The Distinguishing Features of the Industry 10 Market size 10 Market growth rate 11 Value Chain 12 The Popular Culture of Fashion 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Appendices 17

Ralph Lauren brand, originally referred to as Polo Ralph Lauren, is the most iconic brand to America and polo sports. ( where source??) To sell the American dream, he was the manifestation of the universal ambition. For young entrepreneurs, polo represented the exact link to people, fashion, horses, and most significantly, status (Mahmoudian et. al., 2021). He brought together these four stakes to create attractive outfits that would make polo fashion a way of life. Ralph’s fashionable clothing made the daily life more comfortable and kept it at a higher level. Ralph Lauren found a way for the designers to enter into the business of American menswear fashion. ( where source??) He represents preppy luxury and brings back memories of old times in most parts of the world ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). However, the brand was forced to drop "polo" from its name after the Ralph Lauren polo shirts had become popular in most parts of the world. It distinguished itself from other companies as a proper fashion house and a polo shirt-making company. ( where source??) Today, the company enjoys added value from most of its restaurants, coffee shop, and the polo bar in New York City ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). 

Polo Ralph has always had a long vision in shaping its product investments. It has always been crucial for the company to connect its various apparel and accessories lines under a unified identity ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). While exploring new opportunities to expand its product lines, has also gone beyond fashion industry. The following are some of the company's brands:

Ralph Lauren founded polo Ralph Lauren in 1970 with a small shop in Bloomingdale's. It started as a shop owned by a single designer, making it a legendary store's first-ever boutique to be devoted to a single designer. ( where source??) Being a young entrepreneur at 28 years old, Lauren oversaw every detail of initiating his business in fashion and design (Mahmoudian et. al., 2021). Lauren successfully opened his first separate store on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive one year later. He, however, introduced his first collection for women in the newly opened store. ( where source??)

In 1972, Lauren's short-sleeved collared sports shirts entered the global market and suddenly became an iconic shirt of American style. ( where source??) He also introduced the womenswear brand during the same year in response to the increasing requests from women ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). Therefore, the rising demand for womenswear gave rise to the "True Fashionsta household" name. In 1974, Ralph Lauren designed all menswear for The Great Gatsby. ( where source??) In 1977, most of Diane Keaton's trademark outfits featured Lauren's pieces in Annie Hall (Templeton, 2013). Since then, Polo Ralph Lauren has constantly expanded to include homewares, restaurant ownership, fragrances, and many more. The Polo Ralph Lauren company went public in 1997. ( where source??) This made Lauren the first True Fashionsta designer to own a single store, making at least $400 million sales per day (Templeton, 2013).

Although Polo Ralph Lauren started its operation in 1968 with men's ties, the company appears to have always been at the top of other companies in the fashion industry (Templeton, 2013). This is because its products have unique and timeless features. For example, the horse rider symbol on the Polo shirts is enduring. Lauren was already in America's fashion industry in 1967 ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). During the same year, he convinced the president of the tie manufacturers to allow him to create a new brand in the fashion industry. ( where source??)

Ralph borrowed a $50000 loan and affixed the "polo" to his name ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing The American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). This was one of the biggest steps he made to put his brand above the rest. While he devised a drawer in the Empire state building, he also delivered his products to the customers by himself. ( where source??) Manhattan's department stores, however, made a new decision to exclusively access the men's line (Templeton, 2013). They, therefore, gave Lauren a private shop; making it the first time for Bloomingdale's to open a shop within their stores. ( where source??) This motivated Lauren, and in 2 years, he launched a women's line of tailored shirts, which gave birth to the iconic polo shirt. ( where source??) In the subsequent year, Lauren introduced a new shirt in 24-colorways (Templeton, 2013). 

Lauren was not essentially innovative but the way he made it to the top was completely new. He typically employed a genius marketing strategy to spoon-feed his potential clients. ( where source??) His outfits comprised Ivy League and country clubwear, which resulted in a simple superiority every American, aspired for (Davis, 2009). He acted as a real American celebrity and a motivation to future designers. As a result, every American would share a common desire for the polo shirts and Harrington Jackets.

From the fashion industry, Ralph Lauren deviated into a complete lifestyle. He simultaneously launched the first fragrance in 1978. ( where source??) After introducing a pastel-collared Oxford shirt, the polo brand increasingly gained popularity in the United Kingdom in the 1980s (Davis, 2009). This shirt became so popular in the United Kingdom that it was a must for it to get into clubs. Lauren did all he could to adapt to the changing tastes and cultural obsessions for his company to stay relevant in the fashion industry. ( where source??)

The company launched the Polo sport and Polo silver collection in the 90s, targeting the spectators depending on their moods. ( where source??) The company never renewed itself with shifting trends but always rebranded to meet the needs of its clients (Templeton, 2013). Boldly, Lauren always maintained a high polo style in any setting. It gained popularity from Polo players to cowboys, rappers, students, and everyone. Most people have always enjoyed being in its outfits, especially men. ( where source??) After a long journey of building the brand, Lauren is reintroducing the memories of the 1990s ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing The American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). It is now launching the polo silver and polo sports collections with a few refurbish styles. The company typically reintroduces this collection with modern silhouettes while maintaining its brand colorways. ( where source??)

The novel was the street style in the 1990s. The street style from these cases was initially meant for a comfort style house to improve the whole brand. ( where source??) Although these cases were then-scandalous, they have become commonplace in the streets of Tokyo and New York City (Mahmoudian et. al., 2021). This implies that Lauren's brand was ahead of time, and perhaps the polo sport will go through a rebirth with the current drift of polo throwbacks. Generally, Polo Ralph Lauren was a successful brand. It made its name even bigger when Ralph affixed the "polo Bear", into the brand name which is portrayed various occupations, obviously sporting a tack hammer (Park & Lee, 2021). However, the symbol would turn out to be the brand's icon. Polo Ralph Lauren has now grown to be a loyal lifestyle brand, and all other brands in the fashion industry are sprawling in its direction. 

SWOT Analysis

1. The company has various brands each specializing in different products such as Ralph Lauren’s purple, black and blue labels, each specializing in different products (Team, 2022).

2. It enjoys high brand recognition and has loyal customers all over the world (Team, 2022).

3. Its low debt to capital ratio gives it a financial strength for future growth (Team, 2022).

1. The fluctuating exchange rates substantially affect the company’s sales in foreign markets (Team, 2022).

2. The company faces challenges from piracy and fake imitations which ruins its brand reputation and affects its business operations (Team, 2022).

1. Ralph Lauren focuses internet sales as the primary source of future growth, making it to grow even faster (Team, 2022).

2. The company can use its department stores to develop most of its private labels (Team, 2022).

3. It has a connected its fashion houses and hotel chains to improve its business operations amongst loyal clients (Team, 2022).

1. The company suffers from less switching costs resulting from the availability similar products in other brands (Team, 2022).

2. Fake imitations and fluctuating global currency is also a major threat to the company’s performance and growth (Team, 2022).

The company submitted its comparative analysis of financial statement and balance sheet for the year 2020 to the U.S. securities and exchange commission ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing The American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). As indicated in appendix A, the primary business activity for Ralph Lauren involves men’s and boy’s clothing. According to the financial analysis report, the company’s financial position is better than that of most companies listed in the U.S. securities and Exchange commission as indicated in Appendix A. The competitor analysis of Ralph Lauren is done using eleven financial ratios. The inferences are obtained by comparing the median values of other companies (within the same industry) with the company’s financial ratios. However, the average ratios for U.S. fashion industry are slightly better than the average ratios for other industries ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing The American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). As a result, comparing Ralph Lauren with other businesses, the company has higher results in terms of revenue and Assets (See Appendix B).

Polo Ralph Lauren is a publicly-traded fashion company in the United States. Alongside France, Italy, Japan, and the U.K., the United States is also amongst the leading countries in the Fashion industry. Apart from professional business clothing, the U.S. fashion industry is principally informal (Park & Lee, 2021). The U.S. clothing always reflects its diverse cultural roots, specifically those of new immigrants. For example, cowboy hats, jeans, boots, and motorcycle jackets are symbolic clothing of the U.S. diverse culture. The latest trend in America towards sustainable clothing has made the fashion industry very competitive due to the organic cotton clothing (Park & Lee, 2021). This has made the U.S. fashion industry develop various features that distinguish it from other countries and within the states. The following are some of the distinguishing features of the U.S. fashion and design industry: 

According to Park & Lee (2021), the U.S. fashion market value was approximately 368 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. It is uniquely defined by its biggest retailer stores like TJX and Macy's, each with an estimated $20 billion sales value. The American market for the fashion industry is characterized by store-based retaining, which was also valued at $268 billion (Park & Lee, 2021). Also, it has e-commerce store-based retailers who brought in over $100 billion of the sales revenue in the same year.

The US market size for retail products from the fashion industry is expected to grow steadily as the internet continues to influence social and economic activities globally. Contrary to these expectations, the employment opportunities within the fashion industry have been decreasing in the last few decades (Park & Lee, 2021). This decrease in employment within the fashion industry has resulted from the general transition of America’s manufacturing sectors to other regions in the world.

In 2019, the sales revenue of retail stores for women's outfits increased to approximately $39 billion, making the total sales revenue for women earn $187.8 billion. On the other hand, Men's outfits declined to $9.1 billion that same year, leading to a total of $85.9 billion of sales revenue (Park & Lee, 2021). Accordingly, the sales revenue for clothing stores declined to $2.9 billion per month due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Usually, the fashion and design industry has numerous durable products, most operating in the United States.

Companies like Nike, the Gap, and TJX receive most of their sales revenues from the retail markets. Generally, the America’s fashion and design industry is always dynamic, trying to adapt to customers' changing needs. Also, technology advancement has been a key factor influencing the changing state of the U.S. apparel market ("Ralph Lauren - A Brand Capturing the American Spirit - Martin Roll", 2022). This is because the industry has always attempt to keep up with the emerging technology to make customers' shopping experience more enjoyable. 

It should be no surprise that the size of the U.S. fashion industry is huge because it is one of the leading shopping industries among consumers worldwide. Also, the fact that the industry is currently valued at hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars tells out that it has a huge market size. According to Park & Lee (2021), the industry's sales figures for 2021 were predicted to be $437.29 billion. Typically, the forecasted value represents a strong fashion industry, with a market growth rate of 18.4 percent based on the estimated figures of 2020. The high growth rate of the U.S. fashion industry isn't payable as much considering the increase in interest in fashion products among consumers (Park & Lee, 2021). However, the industry is still recovering from the steep fall in sales in 2020 and 2021. 

At $369.39 billion in 2020, the U.S. fashion industry size was significantly tumbled. This figure marked a 21.9 percent tumble, meaning that the U.S. fashion industry has lost more than $100 billion since 2019. Typically much of this loss is attributed COVID-19 pandemic, which has greatly affected the sales figures and the growth rate of the fashion industry (Park & Lee, 2021). The emergence of the pandemic led to the closure of most fashion retailers, including brick-and-mortar. The retailers were closed down to comply with local pandemic regulation, which also meant a plunge in visitors and then sales.

The cutbacks of inessential items (such as clothing) for household products also led to the decline in the growth rate of the U.S. fashion industry in 2020. However, the industry's sales were expected to return to normal from 2021 onwards, with sales forecast at $473.42 billion in 2022 (Park & Lee, 2021). Despite the fall of sales revenues of the U.S. fashion industry, the total U.S. fashion e-commerce sales are set to increase by over $80 billion by 2024. 

U.S. fashion and design industry has a strong value chain that describes all activities of firms and workers. The value chain of the U.S. fashion industry provides the firms and workers with a working framework to develop suitable products for the consumers. The industry activities described in its value chain include product designing, production, marketing, and distribution to the consumers (Pal & Gander, 2018). However, a single firm can contain all the activities described in the industry's value chain. Accordingly, different firms can share or distribute activities in the supply chain among themselves.

The value chain of the U.S. fashion industry has numerous discernable product differences, with the most common class of U.S. fashion industry products being fiber type. The next common course of products is the fabric construction process (Pal & Gander, 2018). Generally, the value chain of the U.S. fashion industry simplifies the production process of clothing items. It makes the work of firms and workers effective and efficient.

Popular culture is also a distinguishing feature in the fashion industry of most countries. Some cultural practices like the popular music culture have continuously inspired new fashion styles. For example, in the disco era, the fashion style for men artists was flashy pantsuits while women's fashion style was shiny metallic dresses. In the disco era, the trends in the fashion industry were racially unbiased, although there were certain stereotypes—like the Black urban pimp (Macchion et. al., 2015). Generally, lifestyle trends greatly influence the growth of fashion industry because celebrities popularize outfits.

Recently, music stars are moving into partnerships with fashion firms, making the industry grow even further. For example, rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" and his two partners recently launched the Rocawear clothing company (Park & Lee, 2021). Also, most popular celebrities are increasingly photographed on red carpets with the latest styles of outfits. Such moves by music celebrities show that the fashion industry is highly dependent on the popular culture of fashion for its growth.  

The fashion and design industry is constantly taking the central role of national and global economies. It continues to occupy our sexuality, popular culture, and even political ideologies. The history of fashion is tangled in all major developments in life, from clothing companies like Polo Ralph Lauren to garment creation processes and the social values that determine our appearance. Generally, the fashion industry has become part of us and will always be from one generation to another. 

Davis, H. (2009). Polo Ralph Lauren advertising retrospective: Using interior design to help define the corporate brand. Corcoran College of Art+ Design.

Macchion, L., Moretto, A., Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Danese, P., & Vinelli, A. (2015). Production and supply network strategies within the fashion industry. International Journal of Production Economics, 163, 173-188.

Mahmoudian, A. S., Jaras, M., Jarhi, A., Khajavi, A., & Mircheraghi, S. F. (2021). Heart Polo Ralph Lauren Womens Shopper Tote Canvas Bag Beige Dual Handle L New. Heart Polo Ralph Lauren Womens Shopper Tote Canvas Bag Beige Dual Handle L New, 27(3), 302-317.

Pal, R., & Gander, J. (2018). Modelling environmental value: An examination of sustainable business models within the fashion industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, 251-263.

Park, S., & Lee, K. (2021). Examining the impact of e-commerce growth on the spatial distribution of fashion and beauty stores in Seoul. Sustainability, 13(9), 5185.

Appendix A

Financial position and performance history

Appendix B

Closest competitors

Company USD ($), in Millions

Revenue Assets

Cintas Corporation 6,934 8,455

V.F. Corporation 6,509 13,744

KONTOOR BRANDS, INC. 2,098 1,546

Oxford Industries, Inc. 749 866