Transcript
Introduction
"Ralph Lauren has built the most successful apparel company in the United States. His favorite declaration about himself is, what you see is what you get. When he describes his work, he insists that it does not constitute trendy fashion and that his customers care more about well-made clothes than the latest party dresses from Europe. He takes such distinctions seriously.
Once when I lumped him together with a handful of other designers during casual conversation, he snapped, 'Don't put me with those designers. My business is not compared to anybody else's.' This is an unauthorized biography. I knew before starting this project that Ralph Lauren was guarded about his personal life."
"I knew that he rarely appeared at society dinners. This reserve is due to shyness, not modesty. In practice, Ralph Lauren is a tough, intensely ambitious businessmen who thinks his work has never received the recognition it deserves. He has always possessed immense self-confidence. It is central to his character, an asset as valuable as a sense of color, fabric and style. That explains why Ralph has always been willing to break the rules and to do things his own way. At different times in his career, he has refused orders from top retailers. For years, he griped that the retailer he did do business with didn't display his clothes with enough elegance. Finally, he decided he was going to do it himself."
"Today, Ralph Lauren lives in a Fifth Avenue duplex, owns a 12,000-acre ranch in Colorado, a home on Long Island, a villa in Jamaica and a 200-acre estate in Westchester County, New York as well as a fleet of antique cars. He jets from home to home in his own Gulfstream. Ralph Lauren is one of the richest self-made man in the United States. This is the story of how Ralph Lauren built his business and why it succeeded. It is also the story of what that success has done to him."