Polo Ralph Lauren

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Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;">Image:Polorralphlauren logo.gif</td></tr>
Type	Public (NYSE: RL)
Founded	1968
Headquarters	New York, New York, USA <tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Ralph Lauren, Chairman & CEO</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>Textiles - Apparel Clothing</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Products</th><td>Apparel, Bedding, Bath products, Furniture, Fabric, Wallpaper, Paints, Broadloom, Tabletop and Giftware, Fragrance and Skin Care products</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Revenue</th><td>Image:Green Arrow Up.svg$3.746 billion USD (2006)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Net income</th><td>Image:Green Arrow Up.svg$308.00 million USD (2006)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Employees</th><td>12,800 (2006)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>www.polo.com</td></tr>

Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) is American fashion designer Ralph Lauren's leading line of clothing. Polo Ralph Lauren specialises in high-end casual/semi-formal wear for men and women.

1 Brand history
2 Polo classics
3 Clothing brands
4 External links

[edit] Brand history

The brand was launched in 1967 when Ralph Lauren purchased the name from Brooks Brothers, for whom he worked at the time. In 1968 he started a line of men's ties. By 1969 he had a boutique store within the Manhattan department store Bloomingdale's. In 1971, Polo Ralph Lauren launched its first women's collection and his first standalone store in Beverly Hills, California. Ten years later, in 1981, the brand went global with its first international store on London's New Bond Street. The Polo Sport line came about in 1993. [1]

The brand now produces clothing, accessories, fragrances, and operates the restaurant RL in Chicago, and sponsors a Harlem cancer center in association with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The flagship store is now located in the Rhinelander Mansion 867 Madison Avenue at 72nd Street, also in New York City.

Ralph Lauren is the largest fashion designer/retailer in the United States, with sales in excess of three billion dollars a year.

[edit] Polo classics

One of the most famous pieces in the Polo line is the classic polo featuring the now-iconic Polo player on the left breast of the shirt. This shirt in particular became a fashion must in the 1980s with the preppy set. Other Polo classics include the cashmere cableknit sweater and the oxford cloth button-down shirt.