Brand history and identity
Rugby Ralph Lauren was a concept created by luxury lifestyle apparel designer, Ralph Lauren. The brand's first location opened at 342 Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts on October 23, 2004. Rugby's lower price point and edgier styling catered to a younger shopper than Lauren's other luxury clothing brands. Though the company experimented with logos, most of the clothing either carried a small embroidered rugby player, "R.L.F.C", or a skull and crossbones motif. Similarly, the brand adopted its signature colours of yellow and navy stripes on its shopping bags, tags and other promotional material.
Tying in with the brand name, the staple of the concept was the rugby shirt. Originally, these rugby shirts were created in the school colors in the college towns that the Rugby stores resided. Rugby also had a full book of patches that customers could purchase to personalize their rugby shirt in-store.
The full brand lineup consisted of rugby shirts, polos, jackets, suits, dresses, outerwear and accessories, all with a distressed or embellished flair, as well as Rugby Ralph Lauren signature Rugby Football shirts that could be customized by buying patches in-store. Typically, there were also multiple luxury items in each line such as leather jackets and blazers.
Banana Republic is an upscale clothing and accessories retailer owned by The Gap. It was founded in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler, who originally called the company "Banana Republic Travel & Safari Clothing Company". In 1983, Gap purchased the company, changed the name to "Banana Republic," and rebranded the stores to achieve a more upscale image. In the 2020s, VP of design Nicole Wiesmann has re-envisioned the brand with ad editorial campaigns that evoke luxury brands like Loro Piana with higher-end garments that have been compared favorably with Ralph Lauren, The Row, and Burberry.
Copley Place is an enclosed shopping mall within the mixed-use Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It features direct indoor connections to several nearby destinations including four office towers, and the Boston Marriott Copley Place and Sheraton Boston hotels. The mall is connected to the Prudential Center shopping mall via a skybridge over Huntington Avenue.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company that also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is the parent company of Aerie and Todd Snyder.
Brooks Brothers is an American high-end luxury fashion company founded in 1818, the oldest apparel brand in continuous operation in the United States. Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers produces clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings. Brooks Brothers licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear, Paris-based Interparfums for fragrances, and Turkey-based Turko Textiles for its home collection.
Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east–west, from the Boston Public Garden to Brookline Avenue. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike westbound at Massachusetts Avenue. Newbury Street is a destination known for its many retail shops and restaurants.
Zayre was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the stores to the competing Ames Department Stores, Inc. chain, and in June 1989, Zayre Corp. merged with one of its subsidiaries, The TJX Companies, parent company of T.J. Maxx, which still exists today. A number of stores retained the Zayre name until 1990, by which time all stores were either closed or converted into Ames stores.
Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman. It introduced major luxury brands to the American market including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Zegna. Following its bankruptcy, Barneys was sold to Authentic Brands Group and all its physical stores were permanently closed in 2019. As of April 2023, the brand is licensed to Saks Fifth Avenue for two shop-in-shop locations in the United States, and to Laox Holdings Co Ltd for six stores and several outlet stores in Japan.
Ruehl No.925 was an upscale clothing brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, selling apparel, leather goods, and luxury goods. Themed after New York City's Greenwich Village, the store was meant to attract post-graduate individuals aged 22 to 35, competing primarily with J.Crew, Polo Ralph Lauren, and American Eagle Outfitters' equally short-lived spinoff Martin + Osa. Ruehl was the only brand in the Abercrombie portfolio that sold clothing in the color black.
J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dresses, suiting, jewelry, and shoes.
Henri Bendel, Inc., established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York City store was located at 10 West 57th street. In 1985, when purchased by Limited, the new owner moved the store to 712 Fifth Avenue.
The Izod Corporation is an American midrange clothing company that produces dressy-casual clothing, sportswear for men, and footwear and accessories. It is a division of Authentic Brands Group, and is currently marketed and manufactured by Centric Brands under a long-term licensing agreement. Other Izod classics include the Harrington jacket G-9 model and V-neck and cardigan sweaters. Today, the Izod brand competes most directly with the similarly priced Chaps brand owned by Ralph Lauren Corporation, while competing more indirectly with U.S. Polo Assn.
Club Monaco is a Canadian-founded luxury casual clothing retailer owned by Regent, L.P. With more than 140 locations worldwide, the retailer has locations in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Mainland China, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Turkey, and United Kingdom.
The Natick Mall is a shopping mall in Natick, Massachusetts. The original facility was the first enclosed shopping mall in Greater Boston upon opening in 1966; it was demolished and replaced by a larger building in 1994 and expanded in 2007. The mall, with the adjacent Shopper's World power center in Framingham, are components of the Golden Triangle shopping district in the center of MetroWest, situated between Route 9 and Route 30. With 1,695,884 square feet (157,553 m2) of gross leasable area, it is the largest shopping complex in New England. It is owned and managed by Brookfield Properties, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management.
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of February 2020, the company operated 854 stores across all brands.
The history of Abercrombie & Fitch began in the 19th century and extends into the 21st century. Key figures who changed and influenced the course of Abercrombie & Fitch's history include co-founders David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch, Limited Brands and Michael Jeffries, the former Chairman and CEO.
Newbury Comics is an American comic book and music retailer based in New England. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John Brusger and Mike Dreese. Dreese also published Boston Rock, a music tabloid which was active from 1980 to 1987 that focused on punk, new wave and indie bands. There are now 31 stores in six states: four in New Hampshire, two in Rhode Island, one in Maine, two in Connecticut, and sixteen in Massachusetts. On August 20, 2016, Newbury Comics opened its first store outside of New England at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, New York. This location quickly became the #1 performing store in the chain. Since its opening, five additional locations have been opened in New York bringing its total to six.
Johnny Cupcakes, Inc. is a clothing brand founded in 2001 by Johnny Earle. The clothing line uses cupcakes as the prominent design motif of its merchandise, often replacing iconic symbols with cupcakes. The brand's insignia is a play on skull and crossbones, with a cupcake silhouette replacing the skull.
Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American publicly traded fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces products ranging from the mid-range to the luxury segments. Ralph Lauren is known for marketing and distributing products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories, and fragrances. Known mostly for its flagship brand Polo Ralph Lauren, the company's brands include mid-range, sub-premium, and premium labels up to its highest priced luxury Purple label apparel. The company additionally owned Club Monaco from 1999 to 2021.
Todd Snyder is an American fashion designer based in New York City. He founded his eponymous fashion label in 2011, and has been called "the most influential menswear designer of his generation" by GQ. The brand was acquired by American Eagle Outfitters in 2015.
Retail Apparel Group is an Australian and New Zealand clothing retail company, wholly owned by the Foschini Group.
