Ralph Lauren
Polo player, preppy empire. The sub-line — Polo, Polo Sport, Polo Jeans, Chaps, Denim & Supply — narrows the era as much as the tag itself.
- Origin
- USA
- Founded
- 1967
- Category
- Designer & Casual
- Documented eras
- 4
How Ralph Lauren labels evolved over time. Match the markers below against the tag in hand to place a garment in its era.
1980–1989
Varied Anti-Counterfeit Tags
Chaps tags varied widely in the 80s as Ralph Lauren worked to evade counterfeits; a navy square with sizing and fabric detail is typical.
- Chaps tags often vary a lot in the 1980s as Ralph Lauren tried to evade counterfeits
- Including the Ralph Lauren name, this tag is a navy square with sizing and material information included on it
How to spot it
Highly varied Chaps tags, often a navy square.
Value signal
Desirable; genuine 80s Ralph Lauren has strong demand.
1990–1999
Polo Sport & Polo Jeans Launch
Chaps rebranded; Polo Golf and Polo Sport launched (some Polo Sport USA-made), 'Polo' sat in a box on navy tags, and Polo Jeans added a fabric lip with sizing.
- In the 1990s, Chaps Ralph Lauren rebranded its tags, still including the sizing information on them
- Ralph Lauren Golf was also launched, and used a blocky font with the word golf in a slightly lighter font
- 1990s Polo by Ralph Lauren tags had the word Polo in a box on a navy tag, and often tags from this era had the sizing and material information
- 1990s Polo Sport tags use the blocky Polo Sport font, and some of the older Polo Sport items were even made in the USA
- They include the Ralph Lauren name and manufacturing and sizing information
- 1990s Polo Jeans tags have an extra piece lip of fabric that includes the sizing and manufacturing information
How to spot it
Boxed 'Polo' on navy, or a blocky 'Polo Sport' wordmark.
Value signal
Strong; 90s Polo Sport and Polo Jeans are reseller staples.
2000–2009
Player-Emblem Spellout Tags
Chaps dropped the Ralph Lauren name; Polo Jeans varied freely, and Ralph Lauren tags used the name intersected by the polo-player emblem with a make location.
- 2000s Chaps tags reflected its distancing from Ralph Lauren, and stopped using the name on its tags
- Polo Jeans tags from the 2000s varied a lot more and experimented with different fonts and configurations, however many of them included all the sizing and manufacturing information on one fabric tag
- 2000s Polo by Polo Ralph Lauren tags are mostly unchanged when compared to 1990s Polo tags, so we recommend using the washing tag method detailed above to determine its age
- 2000s Ralph Lauren tags use the brand name, intersected by the Ralph Lauren polo player emblem and detail the location of manufacture on them
- 2000s Polo Sport tags are very similar to the 1990s tags, however the Ralph Lauren text is slightly thinner
How to spot it
Brand name split by the polo-player emblem.
Value signal
Common; the washing-tag method best separates 90s from 2000s.
2010–2019
Denim & Supply, Printed Tags
Chaps cited a 1978 founding date with no Ralph Lauren link; Denim & Supply tags are all 2010s, and Polo tags adopted a new font, often printed on tees.
- 2010s Chaps tags mention the founding date of 1978, however do not associate with Ralph Lauren
- Denim & Supply tags are all from the 2010s, and include sizing, material and car information on them
- 2010s Polo by Ralph Lauren tags used a new font, and many of these tags were printed on instead of being on a label, particularly for t-shirts and lightweight items
How to spot it
Denim & Supply tags, or a new-font printed Polo tag.
Value signal
Modern; priced on the piece.