Rugby Ralph Lauren - Brand History and Identity

Brand History and Identity

See also: Ralph Lauren See also: Polo Ralph Lauren

Rugby Ralph Lauren is the latest brand from luxury lifestyle apparel designer, Ralph Lauren. The brand's first location opened at 342 Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts on October 23, 2004. Rugby's lower price point and edgier styling caters to a younger shopper than Lauren's other luxury clothing brands. Though the company is still experimenting with a logo, most of the clothing either carries a small embroidered rugby player, "R.L.F.C", or a skull and crossbones motif. The brand consists of a line of rugby shirts, polos, jackets, suits, dresses, outerwear and accessories, all with a distressed or embellished flair, as well as RRL signature Rugby Football shirts that can be customized by buying patches in-store.

Rugby was never intended to compete with lifestyle brands for collegiate/post-collegiate consumers such as Abercrombie & Fitch or American Eagle. Instead, it offers items such as its staple: the rugby shirt. Originally, these rugby shirts were created in the school colors in the college towns that the Rugby stores resided. Rugby also has a full book of patches that the customer can buy to personalize their rugby shirt (Rugby offers free tailoring). Typically there are also multiple luxury items in each line such as a vintage leather jackets and high quality blazers with bullion patches. Due to Rugby's high quality products and cheaper price, the brand often attracts younger customers from its own Polo brand.