A Love Affair: Ralph Lauren

Originally Posted by lpresq

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I haven't bought RL in over 4 years. Their quality has SEVERELY wained, yet their prices continue to increase. Imho, they've managed to dupe the public with their varying labels. I cant justify paying $80-200 for a shirt that will fade and/or fall apart in 6 months, not to mention their outlet stock, which is embarrasing with respect to quality. I've all but given up on Polo at this point.

I'm with ****** on this one. I have an ss polo that I've worn consistently (about 1 time a week...I keep the wardrobe low) in warm months for about 4 years....still has stellar fit and color.

However I will agree with you about the outlet merchandise. They aren't anywhere near the same.

Originally Posted by hypostatic

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I have:

6 sweaters
5 shirts
2 polos
2 pants
1 blazer
1 jacket
5 ties
3 pair of socks

I definitely have more Polo than anything else, but then again, I try to diversify my closet. The only other brands I have a few items from are ones that have many diverse lines (Paul Smith, Prada, etc.), or shoe brands (Tods, New Balance, etc.).

I would happily only wear Polo if I had access to the entirety of every line, with the exception of having my Barbour jackets, Dior jeans, and New Balance running shoes.

+1 on Barbour & New Balance.. haven't tried Dior.

oh damn. I just realized that I have tons of RL stuff across RLPL, polo and rugby lines... Have not been buying RL for a long time though. I agree that the quality has been declining. Looking into the closet I see:

10 polos
7 shirts
3 ties
3 sweater
2 jackets
1 blazer
2 belts
1 shorts
1 pants

Originally Posted by tsaltzma

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+1 on Barbour & New Balance.. haven't tried Dior.

They're the most comfortable jeans I own, and look awesome all bunched up!

Not quite a threadjack, but I thought it a fair place to relay this story regarding RL polo quality...

About 4 years or so ago, Macy's acquired a central Florida chain of stores named Burdines. As someone who visits Macy's in NY, SF and elsewhere on occasion, I was thrilled to think that all our local Burdines (we have 3 in Orlando) were about to become Macy's! Granted, Macy's isn't at the top of the food chain, but it was a step up from Burdines and in the "big city" direction.

One of our newer malls here - the Mall at Millenia (a little over the top,eh?) - is high end with a Bloomingdales, NM, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Cartier, etc. and a Macy's. About two years ago I was in a RL mood and was upgrading all my polos. Nothing fancy, just the standard mesh knit staples @ about $80/ea.

Interestingly, with Bloomingdales on one end of the mall and Macy's at the other, both with a RL dept., I could practically compare head to head. Both had the same price and mostly same colors (although there were a few shades that appeared to be unique to each store). I also noticed that the barcodes/SKUs were mostly identical. Mostly. Some appeared to match exactly, others seemed to have a trailing digit/letter that was different for each retailer.

At the time, under close inspection I felt that the Macy's were slightly inferior. The piling of the cotton just seemed more ragged on the Macy's shirts. Also, the material just didn't feel like it moved the same - almost like the bias of the weave had been cut differently from the Macy's product to Bloomingdale's one.

In the end, I think I bought about 6 shirts. Only 1 came from Macy's (a color that I couldn't get or was out of stock at Bloomingdales). 2 years later the ones from Bloomindales still look practically new (and I suspect like 50+ wearings/washings for each) but the Macy's one was ragged about 1 year afterwards and was retired to goodwill. As a matter of fact, I've never had knit shirts hold up as well as those RLs from Bloomindale's 2 years ago. One aspect that has amazed me is tht, for a knit shirt, the collars still are still firm and upstanding with a nice gentle crease Most other knits that I've had (including the Macy's RL) the collars tend to lose their shape and just go limp.

I'm not a Bloomingdale's shill, nor am I beating up on Macy's. My only reason for writing all this was to point out that, given what appears to be identical/near-identical product at two stores retailing for the same price, it's obvious that one had better quality than another. At the time I thought the difference was marginal, but in the long term it was substantial.

I have high suspicions that it's things like this that are souring the RL product line for me and others as it starts to become a guessing game of "where do I buy this to get the good quality one"? With different people having different experiences with what appear to be the same product. And I'm just talking about a couple of hundred dollars on polo shirts.

PS I should also add that, being in Orlando we have a bunch of outlet malls, all with the requisite Polo stores that I don't even bother visiting any longer. I believe a lot of the outlet stuff is made -explicitly- for the outlet stores and is borderline craptastic. The occasion items that do filter down from the regular stores don't appear to come from the Bloomingdales or higher of the world, they come from the Macy's and lower. I'm sad to say, this includes jackets, blazers, and trousers that I've had the luxury of cross shopping.

FWIW, Macy's simply gutted Chicago's own Marshall Field & Company, including the grande dame flagship store on State Street. Fields sold RL Polo and higher quality brands (not at the upper echelon of Nieman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue, but quality nonetheless). Now the place is little better than Carson's, Boscov's, etc.

Originally Posted by razl

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Not quite a threadjack, but I thought it a fair place to relay this story regarding RL polo quality... About 4 years or so ago, Macy's acquired a central Florida chain of stores named Burdines. As someone who visits Macy's in NY, SF and elsewhere on occasion, I was thrilled to think that all our local Burdines (we have 3 in Orlando) were about to become Macy's! Granted, Macy's isn't at the top of the food chain, but it was a step up from Burdines and in the "big city" direction. One of our newer malls here - the Mall at Millenia (a little over the top,eh?) - is high end with a Bloomingdales, NM, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Cartier, etc. and a Macy's. About two years ago I was in a RL mood and was upgrading all my polos. Nothing fancy, just the standard mesh knit staples @ about $80/ea. Interestingly, with Bloomingdales on one end of the mall and Macy's at the other, both with a RL dept., I could practically compare head to head. Both had the same price and mostly same colors (although there were a few shades that appeared to be unique to each store). I also noticed that the barcodes/SKUs were mostly identical. Mostly. Some appeared to match exactly, others seemed to have a trailing digit/letter that was different for each retailer. At the time, under close inspection I felt that the Macy's were slightly inferior. The piling of the cotton just seemed more ragged on the Macy's shirts. Also, the material just didn't feel like it moved the same - almost like the bias of the weave had been cut differently from the Macy's product to Bloomingdale's one. In the end, I think I bought about 6 shirts. Only 1 came from Macy's (a color that I couldn't get or was out of stock at Bloomingdales). 2 years later the ones from Bloomindales still look practically new (and I suspect like 50+ wearings/washings for each) but the Macy's one was ragged about 1 year afterwards and was retired to goodwill. As a matter of fact, I've never had knit shirts hold up as well as those RLs from Bloomindale's 2 years ago. One aspect that has amazed me is tht, for a knit shirt, the collars still are still firm and upstanding with a nice gentle crease Most other knits that I've had (including the Macy's RL) the collars tend to lose their shape and just go limp. I'm not a Bloomingdale's shill, nor am I beating up on Macy's. My only reason for writing all this was to point out that, given what appears to be identical/near-identical product at two stores retailing for the same price, it's obvious that one had better quality than another. At the time I thought the difference was marginal, but in the long term it was substantial. I have high suspicions that it's things like this that are souring the RL product line for me and others as it starts to become a guessing game of "where do I buy this to get the good quality one"? With different people having different experiences with what appear to be the same product. And I'm just talking about a couple of hundred dollars on polo shirts. PS I should also add that, being in Orlando we have a bunch of outlet malls, all with the requisite Polo stores that I don't even bother visiting any longer. I believe a lot of the outlet stuff is made -explicitly- for the outlet stores and is borderline craptastic. The occasion items that do filter down from the regular stores don't appear to come from the Bloomingdales or higher of the world, they come from the Macy's and lower. I'm sad to say, this includes jackets, blazers, and trousers that I've had the luxury of cross shopping.
I noticed the same thing between macys and lord and taylors. Interesting, i avoid the outlet and macy's RL for these reasons, infact I shop mostly at the RL store, bloomingdales or NM for RL. I think they do this to move people to buy at the RL stores or higher end specialty stores, where there are better sales people and also a wider variety of higher end polo merchandise. When i first got onto this forum i thought RL was total crap because I only knew about green label from macys and the polos, these guys enlightened me to the difference and then when i went into the Princeton RL store i saw what the difference was. I should add that I do alot to take good care of my clothes, i was my shirts at home, hang dry or tumble them, and steam press them by hand. if you're dropping them off at the local $1 dry cleaners then expect a shorter life span.

As for the Macy vs Bloomingdale comparison, were all shirts made in the same country, and if so, where?

Originally Posted by ld111134

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FWIW, Macy's simply gutted Chicago's own Marshall Field & Company, including the grande dame flagship store on State Street. Fields sold RL Polo and higher quality brands (not at the upper echelon of Nieman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue, but quality nonetheless). Now the place is little better than Carson's, Boscov's, etc.
I've stopped going there. As you say, the merchandise is very similar to what is found in Carson's and the like. I really hated to see MF's go.

I would say Brooks Brothers, but only for a sense of nostalgia that I have of a bygone era. So, I always root for them to do better or put out cooler/nicer stuff. The BF move was cool, even if it's not totally my style.

I'm not really brand loyal until I find something that really fits well.

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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I noticed the same thing between macys and lord and taylors.
We had our local Hecht's (B-) converted into Macy's (D-). The Atlanta Lenox Macy's it is not, nor will it ever become. Instead, it's been reduced to bucolic crap. Macy's chooses each store's inventory according to geographic demographics: http://www.macysinc.com/AboutUs/Macy...sProjects.aspx We're evidently in the Bugtussle group and got screwed.

The same is sadly true to a lesser degree for Brooks Brothers. The manager informed me that they only receive what turns in inventory for our region. Consequently, I'll often browse in DC and then order the items through my local store such that the commissions and profits are kept local. Hopefully, it would also skew the inventory turn algorithm to my favor for my store, but I doubt it.

Regarding clothes: ~90% Brooks, ~10% J Press. Dress shoes: Allen Edmonds; Casual: LL Bean

There are significant overlaps between what Macys and Bloomingdales carry. Polo Ralph Lauren does not device different SKUs for different vendors as long as the items are the same. Using the mesh Polo shirts as an example, both Bloomingdales and Macys carry the Basic $75 mesh shirts with the same SKUs. However, Bloomingdales also opt to stock the $85 pima cotton mesh shirts that are much better in quality and comfort.

For this Fall, Bloomindales carry Rivalry Field, that is only available at Bloomindales and RL stores. Macys chose not the purchase this group due to the current economic condition. Both Macys and Bloomindales carry Luxury Sportsman, another fashion group for this Fall. However, you will able to find the more expensive pieces in Bloomindales: suede jackets, cashmere sweaters etc. You might find few of these expensive pieces at the flagship Macys.

As to the pricing point, Macys are generally cheaper than Bloomindales once an item reaches the clearance rack. Of course, this conclusion is reached when comparing items that are carried by both stores.

Gianni Versace. NOT the modern stuff. Own about 100 ties, 8 belts, 5-6 shirts, 2 suits.

I never knew luxury until I discovered Purple Label.

I own a tuxedo, a lavender pajama set, a few odd pants and five pairs of bright, cashmere socks, all Purple Label. Those are perhaps the most interesting purchases from ol' Ralph I've made.

I have been wearing the Polo brand for more than 12 years now. I only got into RLPL about four years ago when my sister brought back a nice shirt for me. I don't own anything else besides shirts from RLPL and I recently purchased two shirts off B&S which gives me 3. I'm very happy with these, but only wish they were more tapered to fit my body. The material, collar and buttons make it a very special brand.

My wardrobe is made up of a mix of items, for example:

- Shoes: 2 x Dolce & Gabbana, 2x Armani, 3x Prada and a Santoni
- Pants: 2x Prada and rest is custom made
- Accessories: LV and Ferragamo

I am very keen to get my hands on a couple of RLBL shirts as I heard that they fit athletic builds very well.