Ralph Lauren adds 2 new labels in tailored clothing for the fall.

Daily News Record July 27, 1995 | Gellers, Stan NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren is dead serious about the tailored clothing business.

So much so, that for the first time in the company’s 28-year history, the designer is using his own name only on both the new purple and blue labels to identify and underscore the company’s move into higher price ranges. However, the Polo Ralph Lauren label continues as the company’s flagship.

As explained by the designer’s brother, Jerry Lauren, senior vice-president, men’s design, Polo Ralph Lauren, “Ralph felt that because Polo was doing so many things, it was time to identify each area.” Thus, the three labels. This move is expected to more than double its tailored clothing business.

And that’s what the new Polo Men’s Tailored Clothing Co. is all about starting with this fall. The world of Polo clothing has grown dramatically and will now cover the waterfront starting with seasonal fabrics for suits at $395 in the Polo Ralph Lauren line to a stratospheric $2,000 for Ralph Lauren purple label — with a lot of stops along the way.

In addition to the long-established Polo Ralph Lauren label is the new purple Ralph Lauren label for top-of-the-line clothing that will be imported from England. New, too, is the Ralph Lauren blue label for upper-moderate canvas clothing made in the U.S.

Both the purple and blue labels separate the designer’s name from the Polo brand. And with this new solo identification, the company is tiering its tailored clothing businesses for the first time to go after three distinct market niches.

The purple label, with suits priced from $1,500 to $2,000, is bespoke British tailoring with roped shoulders and a nipped-in waist. English shirts and ties will also be featured under the purple label.

The blue Ralph Lauren label is contemporary American designer clothing with suits retailing from $795 to $1,195. Sportswear is planned for next fall for this label.

Finally, the ongoing Polo Ralph Lauren label, described as the company’s roots, continues its softly constructed traditional model and includes sportswear and furnishings.

Adding another reason for the major overhaul that broadens Polo’s marketing stance, Dennis Trites, president of the Polo Tailored Clothing Co., explains: “We will finally have the broader product assortment we need to satisfy our growing global business. The Europeans want to buy Ralph Lauren at more price points and as complete collections. Now we have it.” Polo currently does about half its men’s wear volume outside of this country in 75 stores with either the Polo or Ralph Lauren name, both licensed and owned by the American company. There are 55 freestanding Polo stores in this country. Commenting on how the added collections will help grow Polo’s clothing volume, Trites relates, “We’re about 10 percent tailored clothing now, and we would like to feel that with the additional two new labels, we’ll be able to go to 25 percent.” He points out that the new segmented marketing strategy will do more than broaden the company’s total reach. It’s this: Polo’s image in the U.S. as the king of sportswear will get a bit of a makeover starting this fall when tailored clothing becomes more prominent in the company’s advertising. web site ralph lauren coupon web site ralph lauren coupon

It’s even hinted that Lauren himself might become more visible in the future.

Big changes, Trites remarks, will also come in the distribution pattern with regular tailored clothing departments at major stores finally getting a crack at several of the company labels.

In a preview for DNR of the new labels presented in lifestyle settings at the company’s offices here, Jerry Lauren stresses that the purple label clothing “was Ralph’s dream of what a suit should be. It’s a powerful look and everything he would wear himself.” Shown against a rich black and white background with a Steinway baby grand piano as the focal point, the aggressive purple label suit silhouette in single- and double-breasted suits was literally modeled after the clothes the designer had tailored for himself in London.

In sharp contrast and shown in juxtaposition is the new Ralph Lauren blue label collection. The room setting for these suits and sport coats is in a palette of beige through rusty browns, and could have come out of Darryl Zanuck’s home in Hollywood in the late ’30s.

The inspiration for the collection, remarks Lauren, is “Ralph’s purple label signature model.” But for a broader customer appeal, two additional bodies are offered. He describes the suits as “bespoke translated to contemporary clothing made in America. Each body has its own set of specs, because that’s the way Ralph thinks.” The line includes two- and three-button single-breasteds and a six-button double-breasted, which can button one or two buttons. The sleeper, however, is a three-button peak-lapel suit, which, according to Trites, has had a “tremendous response in first showings with some of our customers.” The Polo Ralph Lauren clothing, meanwhile, hasn’t changed. The models still have the company’s signature soft shoulder styling. But they’re visibly different from the purple and blue collections which, according to Lauren, “have much more interest in the sleevehead and the fit at the waist.

“Ralph isn’t interested in high padded shoulders.” The distribution for each of the labels actually reflects the personality of the clothing and the label. The purple label will have limited distribution, with Saks, Neiman Marcus and the Polo stores initially getting the line. In addition to the off-the-peg clothing, made-to-measure will be offered without a surcharge.

The blue label, as noted, will be marketed to regular tailored-clothing departments in department and better specialty stores. This compares with the previous distribution pattern with Polo selling only to Polo stores.

The Polo label will also be sold through Polo stores and also, for the first time, will also be presented in in-store sportswear departments.

Trites points out that in some smaller markets, the Polo clothing will be shown in regular clothing as well as sportswear departments “where the suits will be strongly highlighted. So we’re now covering all bases with all classifications.” He also indicates that with the designer name achieving a separate entity and identity, the company’s Polo Sport label will become that much more powerful on its own.

Adding a footnote on the Polo retail business, the executive points out that many of the American stores are going through arevamping that will add considerably more square footage.

Sales for the trio of labels will currently be handled by the clothing company.

As for the potentials that will open up as a result of the three-tier marketing, Trites continues: “We needed this breakdown to sell more product outside of the U.S. And we’re perceived quite different abroad. In Italy, for example, where most men want to wear Savile Row suits, Ralph Lauren is known for his clothing.

“And in Europe, his name, rather than the Polo brand, is used on some of the stores. We really haven’t used the Ralph Lauren name up to now to sell Europe. Now we have the right product, the image and the different labels to do it.” Gellers, Stan