New Ralph Lauren

Yet Another Attempt by Ralph Lauren to Extend the Polo Brand, for God Knows What Reason

Ralph Lauren has a new label named Rugby! The label suggests that it goes back to 2004 I'm just now catching wind of it as with a lot of designer labels it's anyone's guess. Tommy Hilfiger typically had 1984 as their date, typically that meant the year Tommy Hilfiger was actually designing and selling jeans one at time by himself not when the label was launched across the country, that was more like 1992 so go figure. But in any event Rugby offers a little twist on the Polo brand, which should appease old Double Ralph Lauren enthusiasts like myself and diehard Polo fans that do not want to have anything to do with Purple Label or Black Label and are looking for an extension of the Polo brand.

Personally that brand is big enough as it is but every now and then Ralph Lauren gets up the nerve to extend that aesthetic throughout the world of Ralph Lauren. So far he's failed miserably; Ralph tried doing this with RRL around the time that Tommy was made known to the nation and sought to create a definitively anti-fashionable label at the same time that Marc Jacobs was doing so. Needless to say Marc Jacobs had a lot of success with that look and the praise of the media, Ralph Lauren did not. Ralph then tried to extend the Polo brand through an official Jeans label, and once again another designer was trying to do the exact same thing. Needless to say Tommy became the denim label of choice while Polo Jeans was preaching to the same choir that was not ready to let go of the Polo brand. Tommy Jeans had the baggy fit that everyone looked for while Polo Jeans had the more conservative loose fit that today is actually more fashionable. If you wanted Polo Jeans to fit like Tommy Jeans you were missing the point entirely.