Roger Farah describes Polo Ralph Lauren, a company that was started by a man trying to sell ties from a box in 1967, as “an unusual American success story in our industry.”
Farah, president and chief operating officer of Polo Ralph Lauren, addressed a crowd of students Monday as the keynote speaker for Penn’s fourth annual fashion week.
In his 10 years at Polo Ralph Lauren, Farah has led the company in strategic growth initiatives to encompass 18,000 employees, 35 brands, 45 countries of manufacturing and about 275 stores in the United States alone.
Polo Ralph Lauren is an American manufacturer of apparel, accessories, home goods and fragrance. The distinct logo of a horse has been seen on the clothing of line judges at Wimbledon, Olympic athletes at Vancouver and professional golfer Tom Watson, along with children and adults globally.
Farah pointed out jokingly to the audience that when he met yesterday with Dean of the Wharton School Thomas Robertson, he was wearing a Salvatore Ferragamo tie.
Farah told the story of a young Ralph Lauren eventually achieving great success from a meager beginning, when Lauren and his wife sewed labels into ties each night.
The company as a whole has ridden “on the back of [Lauren’s] dream and on the back of the employees.”
Farah partially credits the success of the company to the its tiered distribution strategy, innovative marketing, sophisticated merchandising, added extensions and new territory.
The company has consistently done well in bad times due to a “disciplined investment philosophy,” Farah boasted. “We have not borrowed a penny in the past ten years of investment.”
He defines the company’s creations as “lifestyle brands that have worldwide appeal,” and thus he believes the label can be successful in across the continents.
Farah also realizes the importance of innovation in technology regarding a transition to retail on the internet. After much trial and error and money lost, he now calls RalphLauren.com “the largest store,” receiving three million visitors each month.
Farah said it is the people in his company and a diversified workday that have made him satisfied with his career. His hopes for the future of the company include continuing European growth and transitioning from licensing to ownership in Asia.
He encouraged each student to have “a belief in yourself that if you’re any good, you’ll be well-paid” — which he notes is also an important factor for graduating students searching for jobs.
As a Wharton graduate, Farah said he took an unusual path when he went into retail, but it was one that has served him well.
Wharton freshman Lisa Erwin, who attended the lecture, said, “As a Wharton student, he showed me that I can go a different route than just finance or Wall Street.”
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