The "Polo Godfather" Who Made His Own Ralph
One brisk Saturday evening in East Williamsburg, all eras of Ralph Lauren were simultaneously visible. At Rack-Lo’s Polo Experience 3, a crowd of what the internet might deem “uncs” or “oldheads” and their “ole ladies” milled about, their pants tucked into socks to even flex their Lo socks. Polo Country, RRL, Polo Sport, and Lauren Ralph Lauren were all on display, mingling with truly obscure Polo Sportsman classics and Polo kicks. The feeling was that of a family reunion, down to the aunties pouring tequila into plastic cups from their Polo Sport duffle bags.
Decades-old Polaroids were framed in see-through cases and signed by famous members of Rack-Lo’s Lo-Life crew, like Naughty Forty, Monton and Ski Black (RIP). Rare rugby shirts and sweaters lined the walls on wire hangers, affecting the feel of strolling through a Ralph collector’s apartment, colloquially referred to as a “mansion.” A Ralph-clad DJ was spinning any and every track that mentions “Lo” — Thirstin Howl The Third, name-dropped but absent, was in heavy rotation.
Truth be told, it felt safe, cozy. It may have been cold outside but inside we were warmed by this decades-long love for Ralph Lauren. Ralph love ran deep, crazy deep. And that love came through crystal clear at the shockingly swaggy fashion show that put Rack Lo’s bespoke “Ralph Lauren” designs front and center.
Myself being a Gen-Z Georgia boy, my love for Ralph stems from seeing Young Dro and the Futuristic Swag movement that came out of Atlanta in the late 2000s. I even acquired my first Polo piece using the same questionably-legal methods made famous by the Lo-Lifes, which I wore for four years of picture days.
The night began, after much back-slapping and hand-shaking, with Rack-Lo schooling the crowd on his own backstory as the founder of the Lo-Life Crew, a nigh-legendary collective of Ralph collectors and boosters whose exploits have been thoroughly profiled and documented, including by the ever-enthusiastic Rack-Lo himself. In fairness, his life is biopic-worthy. As Rack-Lo informed us over the next hour, he survived gunshot wounds and inner-city struggles to bring together kids from Brownsville and Crown Heights to form the Lo-Lifes.
Boosting fashion brands like Ralph wasn’t something they did for fun — “it was survival,” Rack said, and it also came from a place of pure admiration, leading to widespread adoption of Ralph Lauren across hip-hop. Ralph Lauren itself has since played into this market, recently re-releasing coveted pieces like the Snow Beach pullover and various P-Wing items. You could see this as at least a sideways nod at the influence of Rack’s Lo-Lifes. “Ralph Lauren knows about us, they're aware of our contributions and how dedicated we are to the brand and the lifestyle,” he tells me. “They're definitely in tune with us and what we represent.”
But Ralph may or may not be entirely aware of Rack-Lo’s clothing line, which debuted at an ad-hoc runway show after the crowd rearranged their folding chairs to make room. Considering the snobbiness of the fashion industry, I couldn’t help but be charmed from the jump. No dimmed lights, no photo pit, just people wearing custom clothes as Rack MC’d descriptions of every detail. The crowd hung on every word.
What followed was a Ralph devotee’s dream. Literally. Rack-Lo had devised every item on display, producing top-tier items with Leon Ferrer, who Rack-Lo later told me worked with Dapper Dan in the ‘80s to produce pieces for Wu-Tang and Raekwon. Here, Leon helped Rack create custom leather Suicide Ski bombers, jumpsuits printed with the typography of Polo’s ultra-rare Snow Beach collection, and bulletproof vests laden with ’92 Stadium branding, whose appearances caused veritable mayhem among true believers.
Then, a custom Mike Tyson Polo Bear hit the runway and the crowd practically exploded. “This is important,” Rack boomed amidst cheering and chanting. “You know Mike from Brownsville!”
“The Ralph Lauren brand is the only designer brand to have a [true] cult following in hip-hop culture,” Rack tells me a few days later. “There's no other brand with this type of support system in urban America. That's real. It's bigger than just the streets.” I agree completely. And you could see this influence in Rack's runway show. This was fashion for the people, custom hood classics created specifically for Ralph's biggest fans.
“What me and Leon do, we try to reinterpret what we would like to wear and what we feel like our culture will be interested in.” Rack says, “All the pieces we make, Ralph Lauren has never even attempted to make. We're capturing different looks from a different perspective.”
As someone who now owns a signed copy of Rack’s book, Lo-Life: An American Classic, I can’t help but be moved by Rack’s sincere love for Ralph. Not only did he host a gathering of Brooklyn’s truest fans, he’s devising custom clothes suited to specifically meet their tastes. He tells me that he’s already sold a handful of his $1,400 Snow Beach leather jackets over Instagram. Is there any headway with making this stuff official with Ralph? “When I had a chance to meet with Ralph Lauren corporate, they took me up in the mansion,” Rack says. “But there's still a lot of resistance there. Maybe I spoke with the wrong people, but we do intend to meet with them again. We want to present them with all the ideas that we're capturing now.”
