Ralph Lauren was working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers in New York when he decided to jump head first into a new venture: Lauren was going to start designing his own ties. After hearing the news, Lauren’s boss told him, “The world isn’t ready for Ralph Lauren.” Today, with over $4 billion in revenue, Lauren has taken the fashion world by storm. But his newfound fortune is a long way from where Lauren started off.

“There is a way of living that has a certain grace and beauty,” says Lauren. “It is not a constant race for what is next, rather, an appreciation of that which has come before.”

Much as he appreciates those who have come before him, Lauren hopes that his Polo collection will be remembered for some time to come. He might not have become a rabbi like his mother wanted, but he has managed to become one of the best-selling American designers of all time. How did this boy from the Bronx do it?

“I was working for a tie manufacturer doing private label for stores such as Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart. I tried to convince them to do their own brand but they weren’t interested. So I approached another tie maker from Cincinnati and they got it.

My goal in design is to achieve the best reality imaginable. I believe in design that has integrity, design that lasts, and whatever it is, it must be part of the lifestyle and become more personal with time.

Your vision is very important. You should know whom you’re selling to, what your marketing and advertising says about you, and whom it’s speaking to. Me personally, I don’t try to please everyone. I understand who I am selling to and I work towards that vision all the time.

I’m totally involved with all of my products. Everything I make is my message and for years my goal has been to make the things I love.

I am not looking like Armani today and somebody else tomorrow. I look like Ralph Lauren. And my goal is to constantly move in fashion and move in style without giving up what I am.

What matters the most to me are clothes that are consistent and accessible. When I look at the people I’ve admired over the years, the ultimate stars like Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Astaire, the ones who last the longest are the ones whose style has a consistency, whose naturalness is part of their excitement.

When you think of the blur of all the brands that are out there, the ones you believe in and the ones you remember, like Chanel and Armani, are the ones that stand for something. Fashion is about establishing an image that consumers can adapt to their own individuality. And it’s an image that can change, that can evolve. It doesn’t reinvent itself every two years.

I’ve always believed one could live many lives through the way we dress and the places we travel to, even if just in our imagination. The world is open to us, and each day is an occasion to reinvent ourselves.

The best thing you can do is go away from this saying, ‘I can do this too,’ because it’s all possible and I’m living proof.”

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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