Lauren, originally named Ralph Lifshitz, grew up in the Bronx neighbourhood of New York and attended Baruch College. His father was an artist and housepainter. After serving in the United States Army for two years, Lauren briefly took a job at Brooks Brothers as a sales assistant.
At 28 years-old, Lauren worked for the tie manufacturer Beau Brummell. He persuaded the company's president to let him start his own line.
Within a year, Lauren decided to form his own company with help from his brother Jerry and $50,000 in backing from Norman Hilton, a Manhattan clothing manufacturer.
The company, Polo Fashions, Inc. began in 1967 (which changed its name to Polo/Ralph Lauren Corporation in 1987) when Ralph released his own line of men’s ties. He credits the success of the ties to their difference from other ties on the market at the time, describing them as “wide and unusual.” Drawing on his interests in sports, Lauren named his first full line of menswear "Polo" in 1968.
The 1970s were a prosperous time for the Ralph Lauren brand with Lauren introducing the women’s collection as well as the brand’s signature cotton polo shirt. By the 1980s, the Polo/Ralph Lauren name helped sell a wide array of products, including fragrances and accessories for men and women, clothing for young boys and infants, and a variety of housewares, shoes, furs, jewellery, leather goods, hats, and eyewear.
On June 11, 1997, Ralph Lauren Corporation became a public company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ralph Lauren Corporation
