Since our founding, we have believed in creating things that endure the test of time and never go out of style. Today, we continue to evolve how we design for timelessness and consider the world around us.
Our Global Citizenship & Sustainability strategy, Timeless by Design, ensures timelessness is embedded from inspiration through to our products’ every use and reuse across generations. Through Timeless by Design, we also aim to implement circular principles, use sustainable materials, protect our planet’s natural resources and champion the people and communities that intersect our business.
Our efforts include time-bound commitments across three key areas: Create with Intent, Protect the Environment and Champion Better Lives.
Read our 2023 Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report and ESG Supplement
A Message from Our Chairman and Our CEO
“I discovered the heritage of a timeless world, uncontrived, free-formed and free-spirited, natural and from the earth, and it touched me and became the living part of all I design.”
Dear All,
From the very beginning, Ralph Lauren’s Purpose has been to inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style.
Today, that commitment goes even further. We are challenging ourselves to lead the way by more deeply contributing to a better, more sustainable world in the ways we create products, value nature and champion the people and communities we touch.
That’s why last year, we introduced the next chapter in our Citizenship and Sustainability journey, Timeless by Design. Our teams have made meaningful progress in the last year, including:
Thank you to the teams and partners whose leadership, dedication and creativity are represented by the work reflected in this report. Though there remains much more to do, we are proud of our progress and energized to take on the work ahead. This is the better life all of us want for ourselves, our families and friends all around world. This is the dream of a better life made into a reality.
Ralph Lauren
Executive Chairman and
Chief Creative Officer
Patrice Louvet
President and
Chief Executive Officer
Our Goals & Progress
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Achieved -
On track -
New goal
CREATE WITH INTENT
We embrace our enduring philosophy of timelessness by creating products that are made to be worn, loved and live on responsibly.
- TARGET
- PROGRESS
- Enable our past and future products to live on responsibly by 2030
- Made advancements toward our circular product, experience and investment goals
- Five of our iconic products will be Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified® by 2025
- Introduced our Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified® Gold Luxury Cashmere Sweater, the first of five C2C Certified® products, to consumers
- Offer high quality products made with 100% recycled cotton by 2025
- Developed products with increasingly higher recycled cotton content, including the New Denim Project capsule
- Invest in scaling innovative technologies and regenerative practices to advance a circular economy by 2025
- Launched the POLO MIRUM® sneaker and crossbody pouch, which are partially made from a 100% plastic-free material from Natural Fiber Welding (NFW)
- Set and implement circular principles into our design and development process by 2025
- Began developing principles with expert partners and increased engagement with design teams
- Connect consumers with options to rent, repair and recirculate our products in select top cities by 2025
- Launched channel for recycling end-of-use 100% cashmere products and continued to grow our vintage offerings
- Achieve 100% sustainably sourced key materials by 2025
- 89% of our units produced met at least one of our sustainable material criteria in FY23 — up from 77% in FY22
- 100% of our key wood suppliers for new RL store interiors will use sustainably sourced wood substrates (certified by a forest management system, repurposed or recycled) by 2025
- At the end of FY23, 37% of our suppliers had committed to meeting the benchmark, compared to 11% in FY22
- Ensure all of our design, production and merchant teams will receive annual training on sustainable, circular, inclusive and culturally cognizant design
- Enhanced the sustainable design training modules available to our design and product teams
- 80% of our business will be with suppliers that meet key & strategic supplier criteria with performance and potential in business, social and environmental performance by 2025
- 50% of our business was with key & strategic suppliers that met business, social and environmental performance criteria
Protect the Environment
We aim to operate our business in ways that respect our planet — like using renewable energy, managing our waste properly and taking steps to preserve the world’s most vital resource, water.
- TARGET
- PROGRESS
- Reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions by 30% by 2030 (SBTi-approved) from a FY20 base year
- Decreased absolute emissions by 29% in FY23 from our FY20 baseline
- Achieve net zero by 2040
- Submitted our net zero target for SBTi approval against its new Net Zero Standard
- Power our owned and operated offices, distribution centers and stores with 100% renewable electricity by 2025
- Continued to invest in renewable energy attribute certificates, accounting for 8% of our global electricity use, and increased the number of power purchase agreements we are pursuing across key regions
- Achieve at least a 20% reduction in total water use across our operations and value chain, compared to a FY20 baseline, by 2025
- Decreased total water use across our operations and value chain by 25% from our FY20 baseline
- Achieve 100% recyclable, reusable or sustainably sourced packaging materials by 2025
- Transitioned all key suppliers to 100% recycled content polybags; continued to remove and recycle all polybags from reduced packaging orders
- Achieve zero waste to landfill across our distribution centers by 2023
- Achieved our goal for zero waste to landfill in our distribution centers, with 92% of waste diverted
- Eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals in our supply chain by 2025
- Gained 79% visibility of chemical use in manufacturing (by spend); 84% of chemicals reported conform with the Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL)
- Develop a biodiversity strategy and set goals aligned with the Science Based Targets for Nature by 2024
- Selected partner to conduct a formal assessment of our nature-related impacts and dependencies, to inform development of a biodiversity strategy
Champion Better Lives
We are committed to supporting the people within our workforce, throughout our supply chain and in our communities — working to build a brighter future.
- TARGET
- PROGRESS
- Ensure at least 20% of our Global Leadership Team is comprised of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by FY23
- Achieved our goal to ensure 20% of our Global Leadership Team is made up of racially and ethnically diverse talent
- Maintain gender parity with equal representation in leadership positions at the VP level and above
- Maintained 50% of VP and above roles held by women
- Increase Company employee volunteer hours by 25% compared to a FY22 baseline
- Increased Company employee volunteer hours by 500%
- Make empowerment and life skills programs available to 250,000 workers across our supply chain by 2030
- Reached 98,000 workers through our empowerment and life skills programs to date
- Achieve a 25% increase of women in factory leadership that seeks to create a path to parity by 2025
- Increased women in factory leadership by 27% across four target countries
- Roll out our Wage Management Strategy to all of our strategic and key suppliers to address fair and timely compensation for factory workers by FY23
- Achieved our goal to roll out our strategy to all strategic and key suppliers
- All strategic and key suppliers will have the capabilities and systems in place to deliver fair and timely compensation by 2030
- New goal as of FY23; progress will be measured annually
Collaborating for Impact
Collaboration with industry peers and experts — inside and outside of our industry — is essential to accelerate meaningful change and scalable impact.
While this list is not exhaustive, see many of our current memberships, initiatives and partnerships here.
