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Champion Better Lives

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We aim to create a more equitable world and have a positive, enduring impact on the lives of people in our workforce, communities and supply chain.

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Case Study

Investing in Education Access

Through both our Company and the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation, in the past year, we donated more than $2.5 million to scholarship funds and educational entities dedicated to providing equitable access to higher education across all races and ethnicities.

Through both our Company and the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation, in the past year, we donated more than $2.5 million to scholarship funds and educational entities dedicated to providing equitable access to higher education across all races and ethnicities.

As part of this, in December 2021, the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation announced a $2 million commitment to support scholarships for Black students, including those at Morehouse College, Spelman College and 10 additional historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through UNCF. This donation is in addition to its annual sponsorship of UNCF’s National Walk for Education.

This builds on our history of creating pathways to education—including programs like the separate UNCF Ralph Lauren Scholarship Program and a contribution to the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Social Justice Center, both launched in 2021.

We are also deepening mentorship and talent pipelines with HBCUs, including reserving space in our annual summer internship program for HBCU students. In addition, the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation launched the U.S. Regenerative Cotton Program in October 2021 with the Soil Health Institute, incorporating HBCU engagement to develop increased access to career paths in decision-making positions in U.S. agriculture and establish mentorship programs to help prepare the next generation of scientists and leaders in agriculture.

Our aim is to help reduce barriers to educational access for historically underserved communities. To do so, we are exploring ways to increase our support for additional student populations. We continue to forge new partnerships and build on existing relationships with the American Indian College Fund, Asian Americans for Equality, Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholars, the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

View more information about our commitments to racial equity here.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our DE&I strategy continues to reinforce our Purpose: to inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style. We unite and inspire the communities within our Company and those we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, equality, inclusion and fairness for all.

With a deepened focus on equity, we seek to address systemic inequities marginalized communities face and create conditions for all to thrive. This year, we launched a comprehensive disability equity strategy with six key focus areas, including integrating accessible design practices into our product offerings, building on our Valuable 500 pledge to add disability awareness to our Board’s DE&I agenda. More broadly, we strive to fulfill our DE&I commitments through policies, programming and action that drive meaningful impact across our Company, among our consumers, our partners and throughout society.

Our DE&I strategy spans three pillars:

  • Talent —
    • Cultivate diverse teams, ensuring that fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging is a priority enterprise-wide, and elevate underrepresented talent into leadership ranks
  • Engagement —
    • Enable open dialogue and create open spaces for the amplification of diverse voices and perspectives with an emphasis on psychological safety
    • Offer opportunities to acknowledge, celebrate and discuss our unique differences through heritage events and structured programming
  • Education —
    • Build a Company culture centered around trust, inclusivity and belonging through educational and awareness programming and content sharing
    • Establish and enforce structured education and DE&I training participation with an emphasis on accountability for leaders and managers
    • Advocate for equitable access to education for all, bolstering community resilience and generating opportunity throughout our industry, the communities we serve and our society

GOALS

Ensure at least 20% of our Global Leadership Team is comprised of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by FY23

Maintain gender parity with equal representation in leadership positions at the VP level and above
ACHIEVED FY22

v Community Engagement & Philanthropy

We strive to serve our global community through strategically aligned relationships, partnerships and intitiatives that champion equity and deliver volunteering moments that make a positive, sustainable community impact.

For over 20 years, the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation has worked to make the dream of a better life reality by championing equity and empowering underserved communities around the world. Established in 2001, the Foundation is committed to making a difference across its core areas of focus: supporting cancer care and prevention, protecting the environment, fostering advocacy and access and strengthening community resilience. It hopes to deliver meaningful change in its communities through its nonprofit partnerships, investments and volunteering programs.

Combined FY22 contributions from the Company and the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation totaled more than $11.4 million ($4.6 million from the Company and $6.8 million from the Foundation).

Additionally, we make a meaningful impact in our communities by establishing authentic partnerships and programming through our global employee volunteerism and our commitment to social and environmental causes.

GOALS

Increase volunteer hours by 25% compared to a FY22 baseline by 2025

Employee Well-Being

The physical, emotional, social and financial needs of our employees and their families are important to us.

THRIVE, our global wellness program, provides access to benefits such as flexible work arrangements, sabbaticals and other support. In FY22, we launched the THRIVE app to give employees real-time access to tools to help them set measurable wellness goals and track their progress.

We are committed to the growth and development of our talent and offer a wide range of development programs for all levels. In addition to receiving ongoing on-the-job training and coaching, our employees can build skills and prepare for the future through our structured Learning and Development programs.

In FY22, we launched our Ralph Lauren Success Drivers. These are attributes, skills, ways of thinking and behaviors that create the conditions for individual and team success. We also launched our RL Learning Academy as an experiential learning program to help place the Success Drivers at integral points within our company culture.

Rights and Empowerment in the Supply Chain

Our comprehensive approach to supply chain management integrates supplier risk assessment, monitoring, remediation and capability building with life skills programs and empowerment opportunities that support the rights and well-being of the factory workers in our supply chain.

Within our supply chain, we are focused on multiple facets of worker empowerment and well-being, including: supporting migrant workers, ensuring fair compensation, enabling access to empowerment and life skills programs, especially for female workers and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.

We conduct annual audits and collaborate with industry-leading partners including BSR, Elevate, the International Finance Corporation and the International Labour Organization to monitor our supply chain and provide capability-building programs.

The 2022 GC&S Report details several significant updates regarding empowerment throughout our supply chain.

GOALS

Make empowerment and life skills programs available to 250,000 workers across our supply chain by 2030

Achieve a 25% increase of women in factory leadership that seeks to create a path to parity by 2025

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.

Read our 2022 Global Citizenship &
Sustainability Report and
ESG Supplement