Ralph Lauren Fragrances: Wearing Dreams in Scent

“Style is personal. Ralph Lauren Fragrances offers another opportunity for individual expression through timeless style.”

— Ralph Lauren

Contents

Basic Information
The Founder and the Origins of the Brand
What Defines the Brand
The Fragrance Lineup
A Few More Facts…

Basic Information

Fragrance business launched: 1978
Fashion brand founded: 1967
Founder: Ralph Lauren
Official website: ralphlaurenfragrances.com
Current licensed manufacturer and distributor: L’Oréal (since 1985)

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

A Dreamer from the Bronx

Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz on October 14, 1939, in the Bronx, New York City. His parents, Frank and Frieda, were Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Belarus, and his father was a house painter with an artistic temperament. Growing up as the youngest of four children in a densely populated working-class neighborhood along Mosholu Parkway, Ralph could only dream of an affluent life.

But he possessed a powerful imagination. Every Saturday at the cinema, he was captivated by the sophisticated styles worn by Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. On the other side of the screen lay a world utterly unlike the reality of the Bronx. Continually bullied at school because of his unusual surname—“Lifshitz” became a target for teasing in English—he changed his surname to Lauren at sixteen, together with his brother Jerry. Another brother, Lenny, continued to use the surname Lifshitz throughout his life.

Ralph’s sense of dress stood out from an early age. He was already selling ties to his classmates in high school, and in his 1957 high school yearbook, written when he was seventeen, he listed “millionaire” as his ambition. The fact that he later made it a reality rather than laughing it off shows just how serious that boy from the Bronx had been.

The Turning Point: From a Single Tie to an Empire

After attending the Manhattan Talmudical Academy and graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, he majored in business at Baruch College but dropped out after two years. Following two years of service in the U.S. Army beginning in 1962, he became a sales assistant at the distinguished menswear retailer Brooks Brothers and then worked as a salesman for the tie company Rivetz.

The turning point came in 1967. Ralph, then twenty-eight, persuaded the president of tie manufacturer Beau Brummell to let him establish his own tie line. Using a single drawer in the Empire State Building as his workspace, he offered handmade wide ties under the name Polo. At a time when slim three-button suits were the norm, these ties, deliberately wide and made from high-quality materials, were embraced by luxury retailers including Paul Stuart, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdale’s, generating approximately $500,000 in their first year.

“Think back to those days. In the late 1960s, everything had three buttons and narrow lapels. I had always admired the style of the classic English gentleman—intelligently dressed, but never showing off.”

— Ralph Lauren

The brand expanded rapidly, opening a Polo Ralph Lauren menswear shop inside Bloomingdale’s in 1970. This marked the department store’s first boutique dedicated to a single designer. In 1971 he opened his first freestanding store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and that same year the embroidered Polo Pony appeared on his womenswear for the first time.

Entering Fragrance: The Revolution of 1978

Around 1976, Ralph Lauren decided to express a lifestyle not only through fashion but through scent. Several companies, including Estée Lauder, approached him, but he chose a partnership with Warner Communications. Together they established Warner/Lauren, Ltd.

The fragrance business made its debut at Bloomingdale’s in New York in March 1978. Lauren for women launched on March 12, followed by Polo for men on March 26. It was the first time a designer had launched fragrances for men and women simultaneously.

Lauren explained this in his 2025 Fragrance Foundation interview:

His fashion world included both men and women, so addressing both in fragrance felt natural to him.

What Defines the Brand

The Philosophy of Fragrance Creation

His fragrance wardrobe lets people choose scents to match changing moods and occasions.

He resists choosing one favorite because each evokes a distinct mood or moment.

“about self-expression and individuality”

— Ralph Lauren, The Fragrance Foundation, 2025

The Design Philosophy of Bottles and Packaging

On visual expression, he said: “It’s always about one thing—Emotion.”

This philosophy is strongly reflected in the bottle designs. Polo’s iconic dark green bottle was inspired by a vintage flask and features a brass cap and an embossed Polo Pony. Uniting the masculine scent profile with its visual elements, this design remains an icon of the brand today.

A Commitment to Ingredients and Sustainability

Launched in 2022, Polo Earth symbolizes the brand’s serious commitment to sustainability. Its formula is 97% natural-origin and vegan, with no sulfates, phthalates, artificial preservatives, or colorants. The bottle uses 20% recycled glass and is 30% lighter than a conventional Ralph Lauren Fragrances bottle. It features a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wooden cap and label, a paper carton made with 55% recycled material, and a refillable design.

At launch, the brand also announced a project in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant one tree around the world for each bottle of Polo Earth purchased in the United States, either the 100 ml size or the 200 ml refill.

The Fragrance Lineup

Polo World: Evolving Images of Masculinity

The Polo line is a major fragrance franchise that began with the original Polo in 1978.

Polo (1978): A woody chypre fragrance by perfumer Carlos Benaïm. It has been described as a composition interweaving juniper berry, basil, and artemisia; pine needles, leather, and chamomile; and tobacco, oakmoss, and patchouli. Classification of the notes varies by source, but the current official description lists pine, thyme, and basil in the top; leather, tobacco, and tarragon in the heart; and oakmoss and patchouli in the base. Also known as Polo Green because of its deep green bottle, it won a FiFi Award in 1979, the year after its launch.

Polo Blue (2002): An aquatic aromatic fragrance created jointly by Carlos Benaïm and Christophe Laudamiel, who trained under Pierre Bourdon, the perfumer behind Cool Water. Its top notes include cantaloupe, cucumber, and watermelon; its heart includes basil, clary sage, and geranium; and its base includes suede, patchouli, and musk. In 2011, nine years after its launch, it was still among the top ten fragrances in the U.S. market.

Polo Sport (1993): A fragrance that brought about a paradigm shift toward “sports fragrances,” designed for an active lifestyle. Its 1994 campaign featured Tyson Beckford, who had become the brand’s first Black male model under an exclusive contract, also earning the campaign a place in industry history.

Polo Earth (2022): A genderless, vegan, sustainable fragrance created by dedicated perfumer Elise Bénat. Its top notes include bergamot, green mandarin, and French lavender; the heart includes Turkish rose and sage; and the base includes Haitian vetiver and Bourbon geranium from Madagascar. With its focus on the origin and sustainable sourcing of each ingredient, it can also be regarded as a pioneer of the “farm-to-fragrance” concept.

While developing Polo Earth, Elise Bénat used the digital design tool EcoScent Compass to assess the proportion of renewable ingredients and the formula’s environmental and social impacts as she selected materials. Sustainability thus informed decisions during composition, rather than being addressed only through packaging afterwards. Her aim was to use renewable materials while maintaining longevity and diffusion. This development background concerns the original Polo Earth eau de toilette launched in 2022.

Polo 67 (2024 onward): A new Polo created as a tribute to 1967, the year the brand was founded. The eau de toilette (EDT) was composed by Marie Salamagne and features notes including bergamot, a pineapple accord, and lavandin. New York Yankees team captain Aaron Judge appeared in its global campaign, and it won the Men’s Prestige Fragrance category at the 2025 FiFi Awards.

The Ralph Lauren Collection: Broadening Images of Femininity

Lauren (1978): The women’s floral that marked the beginning of the fragrance business. It moves from green top notes into classic florals such as rose, violet, and lilac, then closes on a spicy, warm base including carnation, cedarwood, and vetiver.

Safari (1990): A scent evoking moss and earth. Composed by master perfumer Dominique Ropion, it is a green chypre with galbanum in the leading role. Its concept and imaginative world, evoking the African savanna, were recognized at the 1991 FiFi Awards, where it won Most Successful Women’s Fragrance.

Romance (1998): A floral fruity fragrance by perfumer Harry Fremont, capturing a moment of love. Its top notes include chamomile, lemon, ginger, and rose; the heart includes lotus, white violet, and carnation; and the base includes white musk, oakmoss, and patchouli. A long-lived classic that won a FiFi Award in 1999, it sought a renewed presence in 2023 with a Valentine’s Day campaign featuring artists King Princess and Quinn Wilson.

Ralph’s Club: A New Chapter in Modern Elegance

Ralph’s Club (2021): Dominique Ropion, the creator of Safari, returned to portray the modern gentleman in this woody fougère fragrance for men. Top notes of lavender from Provence and clary sage lead to a heart of Virginia cedarwood and a powerful vetiver base, embodying the concept of an invitation to New York’s “most sophisticated night.”

The Big Pony Collection: Reaching a New Generation

Launched in 2010, the Big Pony Collection was a four-fragrance series aimed at eighteen- to thirty-year-olds. Its playful design assigned each scent a color—blue, red, green, or orange—a number, and a personality: sporty, seductive, adventurous, or stylish. A women’s version followed the men’s collection in 2012.

A Few More Facts…

Ralph Lauren Fragrances has many anecdotes that become more rewarding the more one learns about them.

First, since L’Oréal acquired the fragrance license in 1985, all manufacturing and distribution have been under L’Oréal. Nevertheless, the philosophy of the Ralph Lauren brand itself has been consistently reflected in the creative direction of the fragrances released as Ralph Lauren Fragrances.

In June 2025, Ralph Lauren himself was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Fragrance Foundation Awards, often described as the Oscars of the fragrance industry. The ceremony was held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center before a full house of 1,000 guests, but Lauren did not attend. His son David Lauren, the company’s chief branding and innovation officer, delivered a speech in his place. The founder’s family carrying on the legacy: it was an ending entirely in the spirit of Ralph Lauren.

Polo Earth is also designed with a removable FSC-certified wooden cap, and a refill can be purchased for replenishing the bottle. This design has attracted attention as an attempt to combine sustainability with ease of use.

References