Those ties were handmade, by the way. Back then, ties, even designer ones, didn't sell for more than $5 apiece. Mine were $12 to $15. Such luxury in something so simple was revolutionary.
I was working for a tie manufacturer doing private label for stores such as Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart. I tried to convince them to do their own brand but they weren’t interested. So I approached another tie maker from Cincinnati and they got it.
At some point in my long relationship and love of cars, I became aware of a powerful degree of admiration for these highly creative individuals such as Ettore Bugatti and Enzo Ferrari, and David Brown at Aston Martin and Jaguar’s William Lyons. These men were spiritually connected to the cars they were developing. They were their brands. Their origins were based in something I look on or beyond as exciting sensibility. And that ‘exciting sensibility’ is an important part of what it takes to make people connect with what these automotive innovators were creating.
My goal in design is to achieve the best reality imaginable. I believe in design that has integrity, design that lasts, and whatever it is, it must be part of the lifestyle and become more personal with time.
Your vision is very important. You should know whom you’re selling to, what your marketing and advertising says about you, and whom it’s speaking to. Me personally, I don’t try to please everyone. I understand who I am selling to and I work towards that vision all the time.
I’m totally involved with all of my products. Everything I make is my message and for years my goal has been to make the things I love.
I am not looking like Armani today and somebody else tomorrow. I look like Ralph Lauren. And my goal is to constantly move in fashion and move in style without giving up what I am.
I’ve always loved sports but it didn’t make much sense to call my brand ‘Basketball’ or ‘Baseball’ so I decided on ‘Polo.’ Of course I didn’t play polo but I liked that it represented a feeling of being international, European and yet very healthy American.
It was the sport of kings. It was glamorous, sexy, and international.
What I do is about living. It’s about living the best life you can and enjoying the fullness of the life around you - from what you wear, to the way you live, to the way you love.
What matters the most to me are clothes that are consistent and accessible. When I look at the people I’ve admired over the years, the ultimate stars like Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Astaire, the ones who last the longest are the ones whose style has a consistency, whose naturalness is part of their excitement.
When you think of the blur of all the brands that are out there, the ones you believe in and the ones you remember, like Chanel and Armani, are the ones that stand for something. Fashion is about establishing an image that consumers can adapt to their own individuality. And it's an image that can change, that can evolve. It doesn't reinvent itself every two years.
It’s about broadening your scope through history and living your life. Tune in and pay attention.
There is something exciting about buying something you have to save for, as opposed to people who have had these things all their lives. There is more of a discerning taste that you develop.
I felt we were not connecting as much to young people from 14 to 29, so I created Rugby, which is more irreverent and schoolboy in feel than Polo.
The best thing you can do is go away from this saying, ‘I can do this too,’ because it’s all possible and I’m living proof.
I didn’t play finance as a kid. I played basketball.
For 30 years I had run a very successful private company. We went public at a very high number; then the market changed. And I was in a new game. I was in a world I didn't know. I could control everything else I did. I could work hard. I could run the company, and I had a good team, but they weren't Wall Street savvy.
There is a way of living that has a certain grace and beauty. It is not a constant race for what is next, rather, an appreciation of that which has come before.
What matters the most to me are clothes that are consistent and accessible. I believe in clothes that last, that are not dated in a season. The people who wear my clothes don't think of them as fashion.
Back then when I mentioned Polo most people would look at me funny and say ‘You mean like Marco Polo?’ I’m forever grateful that the company then through now has always had a substance of great dimensions and the potential to grow on a vast number of levels with attitudes and ideals shaped by my initial dream to express myself.
I’ve always believed one could live many lives through the way we dress and the places we travel to, even if just in our imagination. The world is open to us, and each day is an occasion to reinvent ourselves.
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