Traders are liking the move at the eponymous brand, sending Ralph Lauren Corp. (RL) shares soaring. Yahoo Finance’s Mike Santoli says the move heralds the massive change coming to the industry.
“I think [Larsson’s hiring] says a lot about what's happened to the fashion apparel industry,” Santoli says in the attached video. Ralph Lauren started out as a premium brand even from the beginning, Santoli notes, but Lauren was never one to stay still. “He's ridden so many developments in this industry in terms of international licensing, he’s diversified away from the core Ralph Lauren brand - the Polo brand. And now turning to someone from Old Navy, a guy who used to also work at H&M - low cost, value-priced kind of mass market stuff - it is pretty telling in terms of what's now valued as part of the industry.”