Ralph Lauren Purple Label shoes or not?

[mr monty]

Does RLPL have low end quality and high end quality dress shoes? All RL shoes that come in purple boxes are from the Purple Label line?
The shoes in this link are clearly not PL high end quality?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500-NIB-RAL...7890090?pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item5633e5de2a

 

[ljrcustom]

This has been discussed many times before. Majority of the Purple Label shoes used to be made by Edward Green, however now many of the Purple label shoes are now being made by other makers. The Purple label made in Italy shoes are being made by Silvano Sassetti, which are nice, but definitely not up to EG standards. Hope this helps.

-LR

 

[mr monty]



This has been discussed many times before. Majority of the Purple Label shoes used to be made by Edward Green, however now many of the Purple label shoes are now being made by other makers. The Purple label made in Italy shoes are being made by Silvano Sassetti, which are nice, but definitely not up to EG standards. Hope this helps.
-LR

If you compare apples to apples, the other makers ( Gaziano & Girling and Silvano Sassetti) made high quality shoes for RLPL. . Not all shoes made by Silvano Sassetti are PL. Sassetti shoes made for PL are up to EG standards.

Sassetti made PL have this type ot sole w/leather tag




These are RL, but not RLPL

 

[NORE]

I've owned those Bleekers and they are definitely nice shoos. I would say they were on par with the other RL shoes that came in purple boxes that weren't branded "Purple Label". Solid shoes at (what could be) decent prices.

I still believe this was either an experiment using different manufacturers that ultimately couldn't command EG prices. There was a difference in the shoos that bore the Ralph Lauren name in block letters (see C&J made stuff) and the ones that had Ralph Lauren in cursive.

I believe the channeled sole tells the story.

 

[ljrcustom]



If you compare apples to apples, the other makers ( Gaziano & Girling and Silvano Sassetti) made high quality shoes for RLPL. . Not all shoes made by Silvano Sassetti are PL. Sassetti shoes made for PL are up to EG standards.
Sassetti made PL have this type ot sole w/leather tag


These are RL, but not RLPL

My biggest problem with the RLPL shoes that are made by Silvano Sassetti is the price. Sassetti shoes usually run around 400-500 and not anywhere close to the 1200-1500 price range that is being charged by RL for their purple label shoes.

-LR

 

[mr monty]



My biggest problem with the RLPL shoes that are made by Silvano Sassetti is the price. Sassetti shoes usually run around 400-500 and not anywhere close to the 1200-1500 price range that is being charged by RL for their purple label shoes.
-LR

Most shoemakers can make shoes at different levels of quality. The SS shoes for $400-500 are not the same quality as the $1200+ shoes made for RLPL.

 

[PhiloVance]

I picked up some EGs yesterday at the RL Mansion - and there are variations that render some of the comments above obsolete. Although you may be aware of this already, in which case I apologize in advance. Both came in the navy blue boxes with the gold lettering. The woolly grey dust bags have been replaced with navy blue bags with the gold lettering, similar to the box. Also, and this was a real heartbreaker, but the RLPL shoes no longer come with shoe trees of any kind. The mahogany double-barreled trees with a work of art unto themselves, but I was kind of surprised they wouldnt even throw in the light wood-colored non-lasted trees.

For what its worth, I think RL considers all of the shoes described above to be RLPL shoes - when dealing with the SA, you just need to tell him/her that you're interested in EGs or G&G or the Italian-made shoes, and you will be directed to those models. I think if you ask for the "RLPL" shoes, they're going to show you the wall that has all of these shoes together on the shelves.

 

[earthdragon]

I think RL considers all of the shoes described above to be RLPL shoes - when dealing with the SA, you just need to tell him/her that you're interested in EGs or G&G or the Italian-made shoes, and you will be directed to those models. I think if you ask for the "RLPL" shoes, they're going to show you the wall that has all of these shoes together on the shelves.[/quote]

I viewed these last week and was quite impressed with the range of EG & GG's. There appeared to be at least 3 - 4 by G&G.
It was not an overly welcoming experience.

 

[Saturdays]

Might be RL Collection and not RLPL...

 

[NORE]



I picked up some EGs yesterday at the RL Mansion - and there are variations that render some of the comments above obsolete. Although you may be aware of this already, in which case I apologize in advance. Both came in the navy blue boxes with the gold lettering. The woolly grey dust bags have been replaced with navy blue bags with the gold lettering, similar to the box. Also, and this was a real heartbreaker, but the RLPL shoes no longer come with shoe trees of any kind. The mahogany double-barreled trees with a work of art unto themselves, but I was kind of surprised they wouldnt even throw in the light wood-colored non-lasted trees.
For what its worth, I think RL considers all of the shoes described above to be RLPL shoes - when dealing with the SA, you just need to tell him/her that you're interested in EGs or G&G or the Italian-made shoes, and you will be directed to those models. I think if you ask for the "RLPL" shoes, they're going to show you the wall that has all of these shoes together on the shelves.

Might be RL Collection and not RLPL...

This.

The navy blue box with the gold lettering is collection.

What Leo was referring to in the OP was the shoes that come in the purple boxes with the cursive "Ralph Lauren": and the light grey bags. Those are RLPL whether members here want to admit it or not. They are just made to different specs i.e. the different prices.

So:

Purple box with cursive Ralph Lauren lettering & grey bags with silver Ralph Lauren in cursive along with the same lettering inside teh shoe = RLPL
Navy box with block Ralph Lauren in gold lettering with navy bags along with the same lettering inside teh shoe = Ralph Lauren collection

Simple as that.

 

[mr monty]



This.
The navy blue box with the gold lettering is collection.
What Leo was referring to in the OP was the shoes that come in the purple boxes with the cursive "Ralph Lauren": and the light grey bags. Those are RLPL whether members here want to admit it or not. They are just made to different specs i.e. the different prices.
So:
Purple box with cursive Ralph Lauren lettering & grey bags with silver Ralph Lauren in cursive along with the same lettering inside teh shoe = RLPL
Navy box with block Ralph Lauren in gold lettering with navy bags along with the same lettering inside teh shoe = Ralph Lauren collection
Simple as that.

Thanks for the info. I admit to not seeing the $400-500 range shoes as RLPL. That's a large range of quality from so so to outstanding that 's in the RLPL line.

 

[PhiloVance]

I won't pretend to understand the differences between the various RL tiers, I was just relaying my impression based on the conversation with the SA at the Mansion. He knew I was interested in EGs so he showed me the EGs - he didnt bother to say, and I didnt bother to ask, which EGs were RL Collection versus RLPL. Unless all EGs are now Collection, I didnt see them pull any purple boxes for me or anyone else, everything was in the blue box.

Also, while the box is collection, the EGs have the same old cursive writing inside the shoe -so do we go by the writing in the shoe or the writing on the box?

Could it also be that Collection has supplanted RLPL as their "top tier?" Because there were no shoes in the shop that had a higher retail price than the EGs (I think). The G&Gs were the same price as well. There were some exotic skin shoes on the top shelf, but I think they were also $1500, but I could be mistaken.

 

[NORE]

Remember, they are constantly switching things up so my assertion above was regarding the specific shoe in question and the other offerings they has in the same time frame. At this point they may have stopped using the purple boxes to confuse us even more but I would guess that any shoe made by EG whether labeled as RLPL or not is going to be a good shoe at a high price.

I would also guess that one thing that might remain is RLPL shoes will have cursive lettering whereas collection will have block lettering.

 

[laufer]



Remember, they are constantly switching things up so my assertion above was regarding the specific shoe in question and the other offerings they has in the same time frame. At this point they may have stopped using the purple boxes to confuse us even more but I would guess that any shoe made by EG whether labeled as RLPL or not is going to be a good shoe at a high price.
I would also guess that one thing that might remain is RLPL shoes will have cursive lettering whereas collection will have block lettering.

Nore who is that in your profile pick?

 

[Superfluous]

If it's cursive, it's Purple Label. In general, Ralph Lauren needs to tidy up the lines and make things more clear cut. He really doesn't have a name for some of the "Ralph Lauren" made in Italy items. They aren't really Polo and they aren't really purple label. They don't really have a name. And he needs to differentiate the Polo Made in Italy items from the non, because they're in different leagues. They have like $50 "Polo Ralph Lauren" pants and $600 Made in Italy "Polo Ralph Lauren" pants.