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<p class="has-drop-cap">When you think of this brand you might picture just the polo shirt with the embroidered man on a horse. You might even think of the owner appearing on that one Friends episode. Regardless, it's a high-end designer brand, not quite Chanel or Dior, but in the same table placement as it's rival Tommy Hilfiger.<br><br>This brand doesn't usually star within the trending hype cycles, they pride themselves on being classic staple pieces in your closet. So when I started seeing their ads all over my Instagram for a "rental box" I was curious to find out what exactly it was. I know what you're thinking- no, it's not the same as a monthly subscription box. <a href="https://www.thelaurenlook.com/">The Lauren Look</a> rental box is different. <em>You pay a monthly fee still</em> <em>of a measly $125</em>. But you don't keep the clothes! You get 4 fresh dry-cleaned, in season clothes that you can keep for as long as you'd like or return for an exchange of newer clothes. Select your personal closet online and they will configure a wardrobe for you. You are not obligated to clean your clothes when you send them back or pay for shipping. But yet it sounds like there's a catch! What if I want to keep my clothes forever? Well, Ralph Lauren thought about that too. They will offer you a special members-only discount. According to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BeautyBoxes/comments/od8bx0/new_clothing_subscription_box_review_the_lauren/">a genuine earned review</a> I was able to find, basically a $115 retailed price pair of jeans would be available to you at a $29 discounted price (<em>on top of the monthly fee).</em> This, my friends, is what Ralph Lauren likes to call a Circular Consumer Experience. In other words "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" designer style.<br><br>The Lauren Look rental box launched early this year in March of 2021. Since then I really haven't heard or read much about it online. Reviews included, it was actually hard to find a review from an average joe like myself. Then I found out that they either paid for media on news outlets like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2021/03/03/the-rewards-outweigh-the-risks-as-ralph-lauren-launches-a-subscription-rental-program/">Forbes</a>, <em>I'm suspecting because it was brief and very similar to Ralph Lauren's marketing strategy, </em>OR the brand didn't intend for me to be apart of their audience and outreach. According to Forbes, the ads I've been seeing on Instagram were most likely meant for HENRYs (high-earners-not-yet-rich), <em>apparently my consumer behavior and mindset says differently than what I actually earn.</em> Did I know this term existed before my rabbit hole of research on this one product- no, not at all it actually just confirms how poor I am and always will be.</p>
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<p>If you are of the lower income general public like myself, then you're probably thinking; <em>is this box the main reason why I stopped seeing Ralph Lauren at discount stores like Ross, JC Penney's and Marshalls?</em> According to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ralph-lauren-retreats-department-stores-tj-maxx-2019-2">Business Insider</a> the answer is yes, and honestly I don't get how this brand is considered a designer brand when you look at the majority of <em>who</em> wears this clothing, the background history of this label and its product manufacturing. Get this, Ralph Lauren himself is a self-made millionaire, one of the only still living "american dream" stories that came from a literal polo t-shirt. Originating at a small store in California that only ascended to luxury by being sold at Bloomingdale's (<em>in it's heyday of success</em>) to now an internationally known icon within just five decades of existence.<br></p>
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<p><br>Today Ralph Lauren has about eight main labels, <em>there could be more smaller labels that don't include the "Ralph Lauren" name within the label itself, so I could be wrong. </em>According to <a href="https://luxuryviewer.com/is-ralph-lauren-made-in-china/">Luxury Viewer</a>, "around 50% of the brand's shirts are made in China, with other manufacturing locations also included in the mix such as Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, as well as Pakistan." <em>That's funny, looks like the american dream is made in China. </em>Thanks to the detailed market analysis done by <a href="https://start.askwonder.com/insights/polo-shirt-market-analysis-xtv1wk58g">Wonder</a>, of course that means your $89.50 basic polo only takes $2.65 for it to be made in China. Why is it marked-up so high, am I really just paying all this money for the embroidered logo? </p>
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<p>To me, it seems like they are up-marking and backing out of selling at discounted stores to make their brand as exclusive as other higher designer brands like Chanel and Dior. And just like those other <em>exclusive</em> designer brands Ralph Lauren also has a particular stance on authenticity, despite the fact that not all their products come from the finest of quality. This brand had the honor of representing USA teams in the Olympics multiple times in the past, with historical apparel moments says a <a href="https://bevoir.com/where-is-ralph-lauren-made/">Bevoir </a>article, <em>and this issue still doesn't phase them,</em> they only appear to be in the profitable game of audience approval. Until sales begin to drop again, will they market to fight for the same "change" their audience demands.</p>
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<p>To my surprise, I actually couldn't find any racist instances about the man or previous ads from any of the labels,<em> they did have some <a href="https://www.phillytrib.com/black-fraternity-pushes-back-against-ralph-lauren/article_e5f29324-c132-5ddd-ab60-bd5d1a2acaa3.html">news</a> about immediately apologizing for misappropriated <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/polo-ralph-laurens-complicated-streetwear-past">streetwear</a>- which is still no exception. Though I could be wrong about this too. </em>Ralph Lauren as a whole has some clear cut standards on <a href="https://www.ralphlauren.com/solidarity">racial equality</a>, <a href="https://corporate.ralphlauren.com/citizenship-protect-the-environment">environmental awareness</a>, and <a href="https://corporate.ralphlauren.com/protecting-our-brands">brand authenticity</a> (anti-counterfeiting). Which does immediately relate to this rental box and rant right now. Instead of inspecting labels and manufacturing numbers, Ralph Lauren protects its labels by inserting QR codes with product IDs. <em>Okay,</em> well it's not exactly a bad thing because there are older studies from <a href="https://www.redpoints.com/blog/terrorism-salient-links-to-counterfeiting-and-piracy/">Red Points</a> and <a href="http://unicri.it/in_focus/on/2013212_counterfeiting">UNICRI</a> shown that counterfeits are linked to terrorist organizations or even drug cartels, it sounds far fetched but there hasn't been a study to disprove that since 2017. But oddly enough research also conducted by <a href="https://www.redpoints.com/blog/young-consumers-fake-fashion-online/">Red Points</a> shows that fake items in the fashion industry today are more preferred because culturally it's more affordable and more seen on social media despite not knowing about the full story about who backs the counterfeits. <em>This is the moment where 2020 has really made me realize that I can't just buy a product from anywhere anymore just because it's cheap.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Bottom line</strong>, is this box worth it with all this in mind? No, save your money and take your chances buying it second hand else where because when they can no longer sustain this venture they'll just sell it back to Ross and Marshalls for that "members-only" price anyways. If the environment was really their concern, they could've partnered with thrifting apps like Depop or Poshmark to encourage people to engage in the same circular consumer experience instead of keeping the status quo of classism and corporate America for the sole benefit of their fortune 500 brand appraisement. COVID-19 has affected every business in both ways possible, but especially with that being said it makes more sense that brands are accommodating in either wage or price to make products more affordable for customers in this crisis. Based on an article from <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/ralph-lauren-company-founder-clothing-merchandise-sales-polo-fashion-business-rl-stock-fortune-500/">Fortune</a>, for Ralph Lauren 2020 was a 18% revenue drop for the company-only a huge point because they still <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263880/polo-ralph-laurens-revenue-worldwide/">earned 6 billion</a> which isn't too far from their peak of 7 billion they've made in 2015 WHICH still makes Ralph Lauren the 7th <a href="https://www.markhorventures.com/news/ranking-the-top-10-clothing-retailers-in-the-world-in-2020-by-sales-revenue/">top clothing brands</a> in the world based on their 2020 earnings. <em>The company is trying to be creative on resolving its toughest year yet.</em></p>
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<p class="has-background" style="background-color:#f9f9f9"><strong>My Review: </strong><br>I had to try the box out for myself!<strong><br></strong><br>I did the research, and now your average joe has to really take it home and prove her point by <em>actually</em> obtaining the package.</p>
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