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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>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"><meta charset="utf-8"><meta charset="utf-8"><meta charset="utf-8"><strong>My Review: </strong><br><br>I had to try the box out for myself! 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.<br><br>I read that they would send priority shipping. Meaning USPS would delivery to me within 1-3 business days and I would be able to track it. I ordered my box on the 29th of August, it got shipped the 3rd of September. It arrived on the 15th of September. No matter what day you start from, that wasn't priority shipping. On top of that, it took me an extra day to find my package because the mail man marked it as delivered when it was delivered to the wrong address with no further details in the tracking information notes.<br><br>When I got the notification that my box was shipped, it also gave me details on which items I was going to receive. I thought it was going to be a surprise but that's okay- <em>because it's not a monthly subscription of Ipsy</em>. I thought maybe it took a while to figure out what to send me but the items were literally four of the 24 I was told to choose for my closet. It wasn't a special hand-picked style <em>based</em> on my closet selections.<br><br>I picked out the clothes, including the sizes. Most of the products I had to choose from were either sold out in my size or were only carried for specific sizes. It took me at least an hour to go through the whole website to pick 24 items in my closet <em>because I was having a hard time finding something in my size.</em> When you click on the item details, you can leave a review but it doesn't show you other reviews already written. I'm a short girl with a fat ass and smaller waist, so I concerned about the fitting compared to the tall, lanky models in the pictures.</p>
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<p class="has-background" style="background-color:#f9f9f9">1. The Dress:<br>I got a size small, thinking that if I got a medium the length would be too long. Small fits but I'll admit it was hard to get into and out of because the chest area was tight and the fabric was a thick linen (not stretchy). In the photo the bottom of the dress hits well above the model's knee. On me it was at my knee. I loved the material and the deep pockets, that's about it. It was hard to move my arms around or up because the sleeves didn't give much stretch. From the back it makes my ass look flat. From the side it made me look 12 years old. <em><strong>It's a bulky item that didn't flatter my body or feel comfortable to wear.</strong></em><br><br>2. The Pants:<br>I got a size 6. On a daily I usually wear a size 28 in pants which can vary in size depending on the brand (I am also about 5 feet tall and weigh about 130). It's always been a hard journey for me to find a good pair of pants, the length is always too long. <strong>I already anticipated that these were going to be an issue for me, just because that's always <em>my</em> issue.</strong> Anyways, it was a bit big on my waist and super long for me. Rolling it up wasn't flattering because the material was thick denim and it just looked bunched up since I had to roll it six times just to hit my ankles. My ass had a perfect fit, but the crotch area was too roomy- kind of like men's jeans with a long zipper that the bottom zipper would fold. I'm sure even if I went down a size it still wouldn't fit right. Not a big deal to me, I never take pants advice from anyone else anyways. Bummer because the wash and material were a nice combo.<br><br>3. The T-Shirt:<br>I got a size medium. It fit perfectly! Length, fit, and all. It's a very thin cotton, soft but also stretchy. I like that the colors are bright and that it's not thickly screen printed, the design doesn't feel like a graphic tee that will eventually crumble off. Even though this was a nice t-shirt I personally don't see myself buying a $41.50 shirt like this. I would still only pay maybe $10 for a shirt like this at Target, because that's what it is- a graphic t-shirt. <strong>This was the best fit out of the whole box, but it's not worth $125-$41- <em>your crazy if you spend that much on a basic t-shirt!</em></strong><br><br>4. The Button-up:<br>I got a size extra-small! It fit fine. It's supposed to be a very flowly look, and the length of it shows. <strong>I got an xs and it was still longer than my butt!</strong> The arm length and chest area fit perfectly too. It's a thin linen so it was a bit see through. The design was a similar thin screen print like the t-shirt. I can see myself wearing this one again but even when I french tuck the front it still looks a bit off. Also $62.50 is like $32.50 more dollars I would spend on a shirt like this. <em>I'm not cheap, I have $200 shoes and $70 pants I just need to feel like this is a staple item worth while.</em><br><br><strong>Overall, save your money! This isn't a to die for box service. You won't be amazed by this box if you do sign up for it. But I will say that the styles available are very <em>exclusive</em> in size and style.</strong></p>
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