Born in Bronx NY on October 14th 1939 to two Jewish Immigrants as Ralph Lifshitz. By the age of 16 he and his brother Jerry had hanged their last names to lauren after much ridicule at school. He studied business for two years at Baruch College in Manhattan. After a small debut in the army he returned to take a job at Brooks Brothers. From there he went on to work for a tie company. When they rejected his ideas for a new style he left on the hopes to start his own business. He worked out of a drawer in the Empire State Building. He sold his ties to small shops around New York but only got his real start because Neiman Marcus bought 100 dozen. He then trademarked Polo and began designing mens suits. He opened up a boutique in 1970 where he sold polo clothing for men and women. (fun fact he also was asked to design the clothing for the characters in the new movie The Great Gatsby) The success of Polo has earned lauren a personal fortune of roughly 6.5 billion dollars.
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