Ralph Lauren has turned vintage into a high-growth revenue engine, reportedly generating a meaningful stream of revenue from resale, alone. The brand has quietly refined the playbook: buying back its own archive pieces from online marketplaces, authenticating and curating them, and reselling at more than 5x the typical going rate. “A 1990s Polo hunting vest? $500,” says Ryan Atkins, the co-founder & CEO of circular commerce platform Supercycle. “A faded Rugby shirt from your uni days? Listed for triple what you’d find on eBay.”
The difference is not necessarily in the garments, themselves, but in the narrative. Branded as Ralph Lauren Vintage, these monthly drops are positioned as collectible, heritage-rich pieces, sold with the trust and provenance that only the original brand can provide, per Atkins. “Where peer-to-peer sellers might get $90, Ralph Lauren gets $450 because it controls the story, the channel, and the experience.” And these drops often sell out quickly, reinforcing the aura of scarcity.
The brand’s approach ties into a broader strategy Ralph Lauren has been building under its “Live On” sustainability platform, which also includes rental, repair, and recycling initiatives. It has experimented with resale partnerships, such as a Depop “Re/Sourced” curation, and is exploring how archive releases can drive both brand heat and circularity goals.
Ralph Lauren’s strategy is emerging as a blueprint for how to own the narrative, the customer, and the margin in the resale economy. And the bigger shift that is underway signals a new phase in fashion’s circular economy: resale is no longer a secondary market brands passively watch; it’s a primary growth lever they can actively design, control, and monetize.
> THE BOTTOM LINE: By bringing the resale channel in-house, brands (like Ralph Lauren and Rolex) can protect pricing power, preserve authenticity, and turn nostalgia into a profitable, renewable asset.
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Updated
August 21, 2025
This article has been updated to remove the revenue figure that Atkins previously associated with Ralph Lauren’s resale venture, as it could not be verified.
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