Jane Singer

Ralph Lauren: The Great American Brand Takes a Look in the Mirror and Decides to Change

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Earlier this fall I ran into a friend who is well connected and well versed in the chic Manhattan universe of society, celebrity and fashion. “That’s a great dress,” he said, complimenting me on the brighter-than-navy blue, three-quarter sleeved, gabardine wool stretch shift I wore. “Ralph,” I said. “Oh! I hear Ralph is going down the tubes,” he replied. My friend’s idea that Ralph Lauren was in trouble likely stemmed from reports of the company’s depressed stock price and sales numbers. In 2015, the company’s stock tumbled 40 percent, and …

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Cupcakes Worth Waiting For

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I called Two Little Red Hens, my go-to bakery, to order four or five dozen mini-cupcakes for a holiday party I was giving on December 18. After waiting on hold for some time I was told I’d missed the deadline for holiday orders. “Can’t you make an exception I pleaded?” “No, I’m sorry, the deadline for holiday orders has passed.” Determined, I asked to speak with a manager. The woman on the other end of the phone told me she was the manager, and, had been working at the bakery for about eight years. When I asked her what she suggested I do for …

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The New Whitney Museum of American Art: What Retailers Can Learn

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Museums and retailers have much in common. Each needs to create an engaging experience for customers. Yes, retailers need to sell their wares and make a profit doing so—no easy feat in today’s over-stored, over-saturated marketplace. Museums must attract visitors to maintain their vitality and relevance, and also to cultivate donors. What good is displaying art if no one comes to see it? Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space The Whitney Museum of American Art shared a problem faced by many N.Y. retailers. It did not have enough space. Gertrude …

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Give a Little, Get a Lot. Or Not.

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Philanthropy and Your Brand I first heard of Toms nearly five years ago while wedding dress shopping with my niece. To judge the right length of the dress, the sales person asked what type of shoe she was planning to wear. She answered definitively, “Toms,” sticking out a foot covered in what appeared to be a fabric espadrille, “I’ve already ordered a pair in white.” Her mother and I silently poked one another as the sales person replied, “Oh, I love Toms. I have them in almost every color!” Toms was started in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, an …

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Polo Ralph Lauren – Adventures in Brand Architecture

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A New Take on an Old Story In 2004, Ralph Lauren launched Rugby, a new brand to appeal to a new customer. The company was serious enough about the brand to attempt to trademark the use of the name in apparel and related categories. The Rugby brand had less to do with the wide striped, white collared shirts associated with the sport than the desire to appeal to a new, younger customer who may or may not have been familiar with the Ralph Lauren brand. Or brands, because there are several in the Lauren stable. More on that later. …

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Rent the Runway: Fashion Meets the Sharing Economy

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Over the years, whenever I purchased a “party dress” — meaning an expensive dress for a specific occasion, mostly black tie — I always thought, why can’t I just rent the dress, wear it, and be done with it, instead of spending so much money on something that, while gorgeous, might be out of style or not look so great when the time comes to wear it again? Two Harvard Business School classmates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, had the same thought, but went so far as to turn it into an actual business. The first Jennifer, Hymen, was struck …

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Tory Burch. Doing Almost Everything Right

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About a dozen years ago, sitting in her blue and white David Hicks and Billy Baldwin design-inspired kitchen in her 6000-square-foot Pierre Hotel co-op overlooking Central Park, Tory Burch set about to create an affordable clothing line that she and her friends would like to wear. By this time, Tory Burch was already something of a socialite and had appeared in the pages of Vogue and on the cover of Town & Country. Not entirely to the manor born, but close enough, Tory, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, had worked in the fashion …

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Canada Goose – Keep Warm, Be Cool

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Like most New Yorkers I made it through last winter’s Polar Vortex with many layers and ‘Hot Hands’ in my pockets, but going into this season, I knew I had to replace my very well worn 10-year-old Bogner and 12-year-old Moncler down jackets. I asked a friend, younger and hipper than I, what she recommended. “Canada Goose” she said, “cheaper and cooler than Moncler.” I’d never heard of Canada Goose, but, once aware, the red white and blue Canada Goose expedition patch logos were suddenly everywhere in New York City. The parkas are more function …

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