My hands shook as I placed the $800 order. It was 2016, and the offer I’d made on an eBay listing for a vintage Ralph Lauren camel-hair polo coat had just been accepted. The purchase marked the end of a month-long search. It was also the most money I’d ever spent on a single article of clothing by that point in my life, when I was a 25-year-old budding freelance writer.

A decade later, what felt like a splurge has become a retroactive bargain. That particular coat—made in Italy for the brand by Corneliani, the esteemed menswear manufacturer of the 2000s and early 2010s, and defined by its flapped chest pocket and extra-wide, floppy peak lapels—routinely lists for $1,500 or more on the secondary market. Some examples edge close to the $2,498 price of a brand-new version.

And while the polo coat is a particularly prized item, it’s not an outlier. Vintage Ralph Lauren has become a hot commodity in recent years, part of a broader shift that has seen pre-owned clothing, jewelry, and watches increasingly valued for their provenance and quality. The ignominy once attached to secondhand goods has all but disappeared—and, in certain corners, it now reads as a true marker of luxury. Among those who trade in it, the reason is clear.

“The word is rarity,” says Laird Mackintosh, a former Broadway actor and proprietor of Thoroughbred New York, a vintage showroom in Kingston that exclusively stocks Ralph Lauren tailoring. “Many brands that heretofore have been luxury brands and have dealt in the unattainable—the democratization of all these brands has meant, to a certain degree, that the sense of rarity has gone out of what they sell,” he adds. “People come to me because they want something that is unique and rare and that nobody else has. That’s what vintage has become now.”

Indeed, anyone can walk into a Louis Vuitton boutique in Lima, Boston, or Bangkok and buy the same bag. But the late 1970s Polo tweed jacket with oversize bellows pockets—like the one I found at Thoroughbred—may as well be one-of-one. 

Visitors to Thoroughbred are treated to what’s essentially a V.I.P. experience. The showroom occupies a former Catholic school and is open by appointment only, furnished with antiques and art that make it feel like the Rhinelander Mansion in miniature. Mackintosh gives visitors his full attention, offering water or espresso—served in a cup-and-saucer set from the 1984 Ralph Lauren home collection, of course—the moment they enter. It’s about the furthest you can get from spelunking the racks of a mildewy Goodwill, which is reflected in its pricing: $500 to $950 for sport coats, and north of $1,000 for polo coats.

Mackintosh’s single-minded focus on Ralph Lauren is unusual, but he’s far from alone in providing a more refined way to shop the brand’s pre-owned or deadstock wares. In Tokyo, collectors can find curated selections at boutiques like Nineteen Eighty Five JP, Reflex, and Safari, the last of which operates a shop in the city’s Suginami ward. Meanwhile, Brooklyn has its own hubs. Front General Store’s True Vintage program includes men’s and women’s Ralph Lauren from the 1970s or earlier, which, at the time of writing, featured a coveted Five Horseman rugby shirt priced at $428 and a striped-blanket chore coat for $1,800. Nearby is Crowley Vintage, where owner Sean Crowley keeps more than 5,000 pieces of Ralph Lauren across storage facilities and his museum-like Dumbo showroom, which draws crowds on Saturdays and is otherwise available by appointment.

Crowley is uniquely suited to judge the brand’s ascent in this particular market. He spent 11 years at Ralph Lauren—first in retail, then in design—before striking out on his own in 2015. He sees the dynamic as part of a wider rise of interest in, and pricing of, vintage clothing over the past decade, driven by online resale platforms, a growing appreciation for the quality of older garments, and the destigmatization of wearing “pre-owned.”

“I don’t even think that stigma exists,” Crowley says. “Whether they’re buying used clothing, used furniture, used anything. It’s so common.”

He also points out how easy it has become to sell vintage, which has had a hand in inflating prices. Anyone can open an eBay account, and side hustlers without storage costs or overhead often feel less pressure to move product. With comparable listings publicly visible, amateur resellers can quickly assess perceived market value.

“There’s one on eBay for $600, and there’s one on Etsy for $800, so I guess if I price mine at $700, that seems pretty fair,” he says of a hypothetical reseller pricing a thrift-shop find. “Meanwhile, those two pieces have been sitting there unsold for five years.”

Jesse Heifetz, a veteran vintage dealer who has partnered with Ralph Lauren to provide examples for reference or resale, gives a more straightforward explanation for today’s prices. He’s currently building out a showroom in his Toronto warehouse to store between 4,000 and 5,000 pieces—largely from Polo Country and Polo Sport—some of which are available for rent. Demand, he says, is rising as supply dwindles.

“The stuff gets more scarce as time goes on,” he tells Robb Report, especially when serious collectors want to hold rather than trade. “I’m not really actively selling. I’ll sell stuff if I have doubles or triples of something, but I’m more interested in archiving all of this stuff and having a complete collection.”

Heifetz also points to the cultural cachet that Ralph Lauren—the man and the brand—has accumulated since 1967. “It’s a real homage to American style, the idea that you can mix and match. Seeing Ralph Lauren wear Western wear with a motorcycle jacket… There are no borders when it comes to style. We don’t have to put it in a box. That is something I always looked up to.”

At Manhattan’s Metropolis Vintage—a sprawling destination that has been patronized by A$AP Rocky, Rihanna, and Drake—that legacy is on full display. The store has a dedicated Polo department focused on sportswear from the 1990s and 2000s, echoing the shop-within-a-shop concept that Lauren himself pioneered at Bloomingdale’s in 1969.

“We have a big Polo section because it’s just exploded,” says owner Richard Colligan. “People come in and sell us their collections.” 

Colligan attributes the surge to a mix of factors, from a general fatigue with streetwear to the nostalgia-fueled preppy revival playing out on Tik-Tok through trends like “old money aesthetic” and “Ralph Lauren Christmas.”

“Kids see it in a different light,” he says of his younger clientele. “It’s something that reflects 20 years ago, and they’re having nostalgia for it. A lot of times, that’s how vintage works.”

Whatever the cause, prices are soaring. Choice Polo Bear sweaters—among the label’s most collectible items—now command serious money, with styles like the Skateboard Bear going anywhere from $600 to more than $1,000. A so-called Suicide Skier puffer from the designer’s 1992 collection, in pristine condition, recently fetched $2,000. 

That jacket’s colorful nickname, and its eye-watering valuation, trace back to a subculture that placed premiums on certain Polo collections long before the present vogue. Dubbed ’Lo Heads or ’Lo Lifes, this enthusiast group emerged in the pre-gentrified Brooklyn of the early 1990s, drawing young people who saw the Ralph Lauren lifestyle as aspirational. They decked themselves out in the loud, logo-heavy sportswear found in collections like 1992’s Stadium line and 1993’s Snow Beach—the latter immortalized by Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon in the video for “Can It Be All So Simple.”

“I used to go to the shopping area by Fulton Street Mall, and there would be a group of kids all ’Lo’d out,” says Nacio Ayala, a Brooklyn-based rapper and Ralph Lauren collector who performs under the name Starker LTD. “They weren’t a harmonious, welcoming group of kids. These kids were up to no good.”

Much of that early ’Lo gear was boosted from department stores across the New York tristate Area, and ‘Lo Heads ran the risk of their own spoils being expropriated back home. “You were borderline asking for it, wearing that jacket,” Ayala says of the Suicide Skier. “Kids in the hood would approach you in a heartbeat for that shit.”

Today, the ’Lo Head community still exists, though now it’s largely concentrated around a small scene of Starker LTD. “They weren’t a harmonious, welcoming group of kids. These kids were up to no good.”

Much of that early ’Lo gear was boosted from department stores across the New York tristate Area, and ‘Lo Heads ran the risk of their own spoils being expropriated back home. “You were borderline asking for it, wearing that jacket,” Ayala says of the Suicide Skier. “Kids in the hood would approach you in a heartbeat for that shit.”

Today, the ’Lo Head community still exists, though now it’s largely concentrated around a small scene of collectors trading grails online. Days before our conversation, Ayala says he paid $2,000 for a hat from the original Stadium collection, noting that hats are among the most sought-after pieces because so few have survived.

Ralph Lauren, the company, has clearly taken notice. It reissued Stadium in 2017 and Snow Beach in 2018 to mark their respective 25th anniversaries. But for the hardcore collector, there’s no substitute for the real thing.

“There’s just something about the original. There’s a certain level of magic and patina to it,” Ayala says.

That reverence isn’t lost on the brand. While Ralph Lauren has continuously mined its nearly 60-year-history to either reinterpret or reissue beloved designs from its past, it is cognizant of how in demand its pre-owned goods are. In the fall of 2024, it launched its own resale program, offering treasures sourced, authenticated, and restored by its in-house team of vintage experts. Released as “drops” organized around themes like “Polo Ski,” “Madras,” and of course, “The Polo Bear,” the items are listed online with detailed notes on measurements and wear and priced commandingly. A size XL cotton-linen Polo Bear sweater from 1992, for instance, could be yours for $1,295, and a 1992 P Racing jacket in a size small lists for $2,095. Select Ralph Lauren boutiques now stock pricey vintage pieces as well, often tied to a seasonal theme: eveningwear during awards season in Los Angeles, sweaters in New York for the holidays.

Selling its own vintage might be novel, but blending old and new isn’t. Ralph Lauren has been doing that for decades, beginning with the launch of its RRL (pronounced Double RL) line in 1993. Alongside newly made riffs on classic workwear, military, and Western styles, RRL boutiques sold Levi’s, leather jackets, Native American jewelry, and military signet rings, breaking new ground by mixing pre-owned wares with designer fashion. The current incarnation, Vintage Curated by RRL, is available in 12 Ralph Lauren stores and has had an online presence since 2021. Recent inventory has included a 1940s denim Western shirt for $1,150, a 1930s concho belt priced at $10,500, and a patterned wool rug from the 1890s for $6,250.

There’s just something about the original. There’s a certain level of magic and patina to it.

Clothing, jewelry, home decor—the scope reflects Ralph Lauren’s long-standing ambition to define an entire lifestyle, not simply a way of dressing. As with so many of the brand’s firsts, from freestanding stores to hospitality ventures, it arrived early.“It’s a rich time for all things quality and vintage,” Mackintosh says. “The same person who has a beautiful old Cartier watch or a Rolex watch comes into the shop, looking for vintage Ralph. And then I look out my window, and they’re driving away in a beautiful old 1995 Land Rover or Range Rover. There’s an aesthetic that applies across the board to the whole thing.”

There are plenty of names for the sensibility fueling today’s vintage boom: heritage, old-world, antique. One phrase, though, captures it best: Very Ralph. After all, what could be more Ralph than vintage Ralph Lauren?

Top: Crowley Vintage & Antiques in Brooklyn, N.Y., offers a finely curated selection of vintage Ralph Lauren blazers, ties, sweaters, and more.