Reasons Why Ralph Lauren is Everywhere

Ralph Lauren

One of the most legendary and famous fashion designers in United States history, Ralph Lauren and his clothing are ageless, classic, and eponymous with American pride. At 74 years old, Lauren is as big as ever and his brand is constantly in the news and on people’s minds thanks to new developments and cool, revolutionary ideas. Here are a few reasons why Ralph Lauren and his company are as big as ever.

He ruled the Winter Olympics.

This past winter, Ralph Lauren outfitted Team USA for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. When there are Olympics going on, there is nothing bigger on the planet and every time you saw a U.S. athlete, you were looking at Ralph Lauren. The opening ceremony uniform consisted of a knit patchwork cardigan patterned with stars, stripes, the American flag, and the Oympics rings, along with a cream turtleneck sweater, white fleece athletic pants, and black leather boots with red laces. All were made in the United States

He held a revolutionary runway show at New York Fashion Week

The designer garnered huge buzz for staging a holographic 4D fashion show above a lake in Central Park last week as part of Fashion Week. To showcase RL Polo’s spring 2015 line, the brand generated a water-screen projection that towered above Manhattan’s Central Park, fusing fashion, art and technology. Ralph Lauren Polo models appeared like beautiful mirages using four-story-tall holographic effects.  The models wore outfits that embraced the eclectic spirit of the brand, mixing the edge of New York and Paris and the sunset colors and patterns of the Adirondacks. Behind the models were images of perfect cityscapes that paid homage to New York landmarks, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the High Line, which perfectly matched the downtown sensibility that inspires the brand.

The high-resolution images were beamed onto a water screen that measured 60 feet tall and 150 feet wide. Mixing live-action movement and CG, the runway presentation was in actuality a short film that featured the models visiting the streets and icons of New York. Multiple elements of each shot were captured simultaneously to generate the amazing 4D effects. There was also a larger-than-life version of the designer digitally dancing across the water.

“I really wanted to do something big for the new Polo Women’s brand — something set in the city — that felt modern,” said Lauren. “We returned to Central Park, a place I love, and captured the spirit of Polo with a truly innovative mix of fashion and technology.”

They opened a new Polo flagship store on Fifth Avenue and it has the first Ralph Lauren brand coffee shop.

The Fashion Week event also celebrated the grand opening of a new NYC flagship store for Polo. You can bet that it is filled to the brim with all the best and newest RL designs and that the space itself is something grand to behold. And on the second floor of the store is Lauren’s first ever coffee shop, Ralph’s Coffee. The designer is reportedly a coffee fanatic and in addition to drinks for sale at the shop (regular coffee goes for $2.50, espresso for $3.50) you can also buy bag of coffee beans. There’s also light fare like pastries and sandwiches, as well as Ralph’s Coffee gear like mugs and T-shirts. RL coffee beans? Who wouldn’t want to buy those?!

The brand recently debuted a new, high-tech biometric shirt

At the start of the U.S. Open this month, Ralph Lauren unveiled a high-performance smart compression shirt, titled “the Polo Tech.” Polo Tech shirts have sensors that are knitted in to the fabric that read the wearer’s heartbeat, respiration, and other biometrics. The company hopes that these features will resonate with the already-fit as well as with people trying to get fit. The data that is collected by the shirt are stored by a “black box,” which can also capture movement and direction. The black box transmits data, including stress levels and energy output, into the cloud for display on a tablet or smartphones. The wearer can learn all about his or her patterns and use that information to increase productivity or caloric burning.

“What Ralph Lauren is hoping to do is take the technology and to look at opportunities that we believe, and that our customers believe, would help them to live happier and healthier lives,” said David Lauren, son of Ralph and an executive vice president of the company. The company plans to begin selling the shirt this spring.

The brand and the man behind it both keep getting better with age.

(Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

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