Ralph Lauren and the Yankees have teamed up for a limited-edition collection, set to debut this Thursday.COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN
For Ralph Lauren loyalists looking to get insider access to limited-edition product releases and other exclusive content, there’s now an app for that. In an effort to engage Millennial customers and more closely connect with clientele, the luxury label is expanding its digital reach with the launch of a free mobile app dedicated to its Polo line.
“This is a shoppable app, but that’s not really what it’s about," says David Lauren, chief innovation officer and vice chairman of the board at Ralph Lauren Corporation (and Ralph's youngest son). “Our goal here is to create a culture and community that we’re a part of, where we can speak to our customers and learn from them.”
COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN
The Polo app, now available to download in North America, offers a behind-the-scenes look inside the world of Ralph Lauren, with editorial features such as Hi Design—the story of the iconic Polo Hi Tech logo—and The Boy from The Bronx, which details how baseball shaped the New York designer's life and work.
Customers can preview Polo products—from brand-new pieces to vintage items that will be sold from the archives—on the app before they drop, and get notified the second that they do. There's also an “Ask Ralph" function that encourages fans to submit questions to the designer (a number of which he'll answer each week), and users can vote on product designs, such as the next Polo bear to make it onto a sweater. (Voting for the new bruin, which will make its knit debut next year, starts today and runs through September 30.)
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Download the new app and vote for your favorite bear now through September 30.COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN
More interactive features will roll out in the coming months, including a forum that will grant Ralph Lauren collectors all over the world the chance to connect and trade RL products with one another.
“There are so many people who have been buying, trading and selling Ralph Lauren, that we thought it would be interesting to create something that united this community, so that they could meet each other and learn about other collectors,” Lauren says. “If someone has a really cool sweater [that someone else wants], let them sell it to each other. It’s a whole trading ground.”
Profiles spotlighting noteworthy Ralph Lauren collectors will soon be available on the app, which will tout new articles and videos every week. “It’s an opportunity for people who love Ralph Lauren to see products early and get the first peek at them, but it’s also a site by, for, and about our fans,” Lauren says. “Very curated, limited-edition stuff that you can’t find online will be here.”
COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN
The new app, which will go global in 2019, is far from Ralph Lauren's first digital foray. In 2008 the brand introduced QR scan technology to the U.S. fashion market, followed by 4D holographic fashion shows in 2014 and the first shoppable touchscreen store windows in 2015, the same year it debuted interactive fitting rooms with smart mirrors at its Fifth Avenue flagship. Past mobile innovations include an app that lets users monitor their heart rate and respiration while sporting pieces from the brand’s revolutionary wearable tech collection, and an immersive iPad app created to promote the Ralph Lauren Extreme line.
“I think what we have is a lifestyle that is much bigger than a single tie or shirt or pair of pants,” Lauren says. “It is a culture of people who want to live in the world of Ralph Lauren—who want to identify with its sensibility.”
Oprah Winfrey and Ralph Lauren at Ralph Lauren's 50th Anniversary celebration.BFA
The new Polo app arrives at the heels of Ralph Lauren’s 50th anniversary, which culminated in a lavish bash attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Spielberg.
"For my 50th anniversary, I wanted to create and share a runway experience that was deeply personal and a summation of the style I've always believed in: personal, authentic, and forever, in a place so quintessentially New York and so special to me—Central Park," the designer said in a press release.
The A-list affair, which took place at Bethesda Terrace on September 7, showcased 50 Years of Reflection: a one-of-a-kind digital installation that displayed more than 400 images and videos from Ralph Lauren’s archives, including clips of RL fashion shows dating back to 1967, the year the brand was founded. (Backstage photos from the star-studded event can be found exclusively on the new app.)
Ralph Lauren's 50th Anniversary Fashion Show featured an array of new pieces from the luxury label, from Polo Hi Tech gear to Polo Bear knitwear.BFA
Continuing the celebration, the designer has teamed up with the New York Yankees to create a limited-edition line, with pieces including an embroidered satin baseball jacket, a New Era “RL 50” baseball cap, a Wilson leather baseball glove (emblazoned with a “Ralph 50th” logo), and a Rawlings commemorative baseball.
COURTESY OF RALPH LAUREN
Ralph Lauren, a lifelong fan of the Bronx Bombers, will be honored with a special home plate ceremony at the Yankees game against the Red Sox on Thursday, where he is set to throw the ceremonial first pitch—moments after which the Ralph Lauren x Yankees collection will become available for purchase exclusively on the new Polo app.
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