Ralph Lauren Brands DNA

Ralph Lauren and all its subbrands from Lauren Ralph Lauren to Polo Ralph Lauren love life in horse country. In this new Pre-Fall 2024 Lauren Ralph Lauren campaign with models Blanca Padilla, Alicia Burke and more, western-inspired, polo club glamour takes the limelight.

Spectator style is another lifestyle bullet point in the Ralph Lauren brand empire. This attitude never devolves into snobbery or a lack of emotion in the way a brand like Chanel has done in the past. Ralph Lauren seeks to be understandable always with his clothes, which reflect a means to an end of enjoying a Ralph Lauren lifestyle.

Humanist Values Dominate at Ralph Lauren

As AOC has noted previously, humanist values are baked deeply into the Ralph Lauren brand today. Not as deeply embedded for as long a time as at Brunello Cucinelli or Loro Piana, two Italian luxury brands that were early adopters of humanism in building their brands.

To his great credit the Ralph Lauren company has remolded itself into a more humanist collection of brands by observing cultural signals and also being willing to subject itself to negative critiques from outsiders.

Ralph Lauren brands appeal to people striving for excellence and upward mobility in their lives, like most luxury brands.

However, Lauren’s great American story — with strong roots in the American West, generational family ties, and now the totality of America’s peoples —keeps the Ralph Lauren empire grounded in a lack of design pretension.

With different DNA roots Ralph’s New York glamour collections could easily become a Great Gatsby brand, with robber baron roots.

By contrast, luxury brands like Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent are more focused on status fashion for the sake of projecting a ‘clothes make the woman’ message.

Ralph Lauren Company Compared to Victoria’s Secret

In 2022, the Ralph Lauren company introduced Ralph Lauren Presents Its Updated Strategic Growth Plan, ‘Next Great Chapter: Accelerate’ plan for the future. The company's strategy has it focusing on elevating the brand, driving core products and winning in key cities, while also building on its tech base.

For the first time, AOC realizes that Ralph Lauren and Victoria’s Secret are now similar size companies. In a very real sense Ralph Lauren has evolved on the cultural creatives values-driven trend line I’ve recommended for Victoria’s Secret more than once.

I lost that argument at VS, as the male gaze dominance of VS identity grew in stature. Unhappy and seeing nothing but trouble ahead, I eventually left the business.

Today is the first time I’ve looked at these two great American brands side by side, both income and profitability.

In the 4th quarter ending March 30, 2024 [January - March 2024] at Ralph Lauren, revenue increased only 1.8 percent to $1.57 billion. For comparison, Victoria’s Secret revenue over a 1st quarter that ended May 4, 2024 [February - April 2024] was $1.35 billion, a 3% decline over 2023.

With similar revenues, there’s a staggering differential in profits for the two American brands. At Victoria’s Secret, 1st quarter 2024 operating income decreased to $26 million compared to $28 million in the first quarter of 2023.

At Ralph Lauren, the company’s income in the similar time period increased 180% to $90.7 million, boosted somewhat by better cotton prices. I note that Victoria’s Secret also has strong cotton component in its own business.

Ralph Lauren’s direct-to-consumer-business grew 6% in these financials. The direct-to-consumer business declined 3.4% over the comparable period at Victoria’s Secret.

Consultants and analysts rarely study brands from the deep dive I’m taking on these two American companies. Being specifically American companies will be an interesting twist in the narrative. ~ Anne