Polo Ralph Lauren and Element Take It to the Great Outdoors
Delivering a range of apparel including fleece sweatshirts and printed tees, as well as skate decks, caps and hardgoods.
Polo Ralph Lauren is back in its skating era; with a 2018 collab with Palace in the books, the design house has now enlisted another OG skate label for an earth-toned ready-to-wear capsule. Across Element and Polo’s range of practical cold-weather pieces, both labels looked to archival styles to serve up a fresh and timeless homage to the great outdoors.
The capsule draws from silhouettes from Ralph Lauren’s iconic Fall 1982 womenswear collection, looking specifically to the collection’s timeless yet nostalgic hand-knit sweaters, as well as its infusion of folk art and vintage influences. The Polo x Element collab spans a wide range of functional apparel that combines the ethos and branding of both players, including chino pants, a distinguished polo shirt, patterned printed tees, a denim jacket, a plaid shirt, and fleece sweatshirts and pants, though the reworked Polo sample sweater is the standout piece. Fit with intricate embroidery and slightly more vibrant colors than other pieces offer, the sweater sees a schoolhouse in the middle – with a halfpipe right next door – and a skater on the path in the foreground.
The collection boasts five different skate decks as well, one of which draws from Element’s iconic Section board graphic from the 1990s. Crafted completely from 100% North American maple hardwood and built using Element’s seven-ply construction, the decks’ designs align with the folk art influences seen throughout the capsule’s apparel offering. Have a closer look at the collection in the gallery above.
Ralph Lauren/Element
Ralph Lauren/Element
Ralph Lauren/Element
Ralph Lauren/Element
With the ultimate goal of inspiring the next generation to get outside and skate, Polo and Element took the collab to an experiential level as well. In June, both brands hosted a skate camp in Mt. Hood, Oregon; they enlisted the expertise of global local skate shops to recommend 13 young skaters from around the world to attend the camp alongside a team of Element pro-skaters. Element skaters Donny Barley, Gabriel Fortunato, Jaako Ojanen, Vitória Mendonça, Rafaela Costa, Kukka Suvioja and Brandon Westgate met the young skaters at the camp’s home base – world-class concrete skatepark at Seek Skate Camp – and the group indulged in five days of hiking and skating. The entirety of the campaign was shot on location at Mt. Hood with Element’s team of skaters as the models; a documentary on the skate camp will be released as well alongside the launch of the collection.
The Polo x Element collection will be available to shop on October 5, both online and at Ralph Lauren flagship stores, select Element retail locations and an additional selection of skate shops.
Elsewhere in fashion, Moncler and adidas have unveiled “The Art of Explorers” collaboration.
