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Key Takeaways Ralph Lauren's women's apparel, outerwear and handbags each grew more than 20% during the quarter.RL sees significant long-term growth potential in women's apparel despite its current scale.RL plans to expand its handbag portfolio with the Blaze collection to support future growth. Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL - Free Report) continues to see strong momentum in its high-potential categories, with women's apparel, outerwear and handbags serving as key growth drivers. Collectively, these categories recorded growth of more than 20% in both the fourth quarter and the fiscal 2026, significantly outpacing the company's overall performance.

Within women's apparel, management highlighted strong results across multiple product categories, including Core Cable-Knit and Jersey sweaters, lightweight outerwear and colorful linen shirts. These performances underscore the importance of the company's category-focused strategy in supporting overall business growth. The company believes its women's apparel business offers substantial long-term growth potential despite its existing scale.

Ralph Lauren also noted that its women's apparel portfolio, including Collection, Polo Women's and Lauren, represents a business of nearly $2 billion while holding only about a 1% market share. This indicates considerable room for further expansion. The company also sees similar opportunities in outerwear, while emphasizing that its handbags business is at an even earlier stage of development, providing additional runway for future growth.

Additionally, the company highlighted an upcoming launch of the Blaze collection within the Women's Polo handbag portfolio, which will complement the established Polo ID and the growing Polo Play lines, creating a third key pillar for the brand. It believes this addition will support continued performance in its handbags business. Management also noted that women's apparel, outerwear and handbags are all accretive to average unit retail (AUR) and expects the strong AUR growth seen in these categories to continue.

Overall, Ralph Lauren's continued expansion in high-potential categories reinforces its premium brand positioning and supports its broader strategy to drive sustainable revenue growth, AUR expansion and long-term value creation.

The Zacks Rundown for RLRalph Lauren’s shares have lost 1.6% in the past three months against the industry’s 1.9% growth.

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From a valuation standpoint, RL trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12X compared with the industry’s average of 15.85X. Ralph Lauren currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RL’s current and next fiscal-year earnings implies a rise of 10.5% each.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks have been discussed below:

Duluth Holdings Inc. (DLTH - Free Report) sells casual wear, workwear, outdoor apparel, and accessories for men and women in the United States. It offers shirts, pants, shorts, underwear, outerwear, footwear, accessories, and hard goods. At present, DLTH sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DLTH's current fiscal-year sales implies a decline of 2.8%, and the same for earnings implies growth of 39.5% from the year-ago reported figures. DLTH delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 107.5%, on average.

Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM - Free Report) , which is a marketer and distributor of outdoor and active lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment, currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COLM’s current financial-year sales and earnings is expected to rise 2.6% and 4.6%, respectively, from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. COLM delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 44.1%, on average.

Vince Holding Corp. (VNCE - Free Report) provides luxury apparel and accessories in the United States and internationally. It operates through Vince Wholesale and Vince Direct-to-Consumer segments. At present, the company carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VNCE’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings implies growth of 7.2% and 34.1%, respectively, from the year-ago reported figures. VNCE has delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 635.7%, on average.

Item 1 of 5 Vintage Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirts are displayed at Neng Vintage, a store specializing in Polo Ralph Lauren vintage clothing in Shanghai, China, June 23, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

[1/5]Vintage Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirts are displayed at Neng Vintage, a store specializing in Polo Ralph Lauren vintage clothing in Shanghai, China, June 23, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

SummaryCompaniesRalph Lauren reported a 50% sales jump in China last quarterThe company operates around 250 stores in ChinaAnalysts say shoppers shifted from top-tier luxury to brands offering stronger valueExecutives say China momentum reflects a multi-year brand overhaul, not a short-term reboundSHANGHAI, June 30 (Reuters) - Collector Xiao Neng says he has spent at least $1 million on Ralph ​Lauren (RL.N), opens new tab clothing over the past four to five years, building a wardrobe so large that he now sells pieces of it in two ‌vintage stores that he opened in downtown Shanghai.

The 23-year-old is part of a growing group of Chinese superfans helping fuel a resurgence for the American brand, which reported a 50% sales jump in the country last quarter, even as the broader luxury market remains subdued by weak consumer confidence, a prolonged property downturn and concerns about jobs and income growth. China's luxury sector is "slowly recovering" in 2026 after ​several years of contraction and flat sales, according to Bain.

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“Ralph Lauren, through clothing, provides people with a way to achieve this American Dream," Neng said. "What ​he makes is clothing with an American Dream feel to it.” He added that the American Dream is not unique to people ⁠from the U.S.; it is an aspirational lifestyle that can be shared by consumers in China.

The company’s recent strength in China, where it has around 250 stores, is ​the bounty of a multi-year overhaul rather than a short-term rebound, executives and analysts say. Chief Executive Patrice Louvet said in a post-earnings call last month the gains were “not a ​one-off” but stemmed from years of work to strengthen brand positioning and local relevance.

“We're in China not just to win this year, but we're in China trying to win for the next 10 and 20 years and really make sure we're building the right foundations for the long term,” he added. Ralph Lauren declined to comment further for this story.

'THEY OFFER GREAT VALUE'Ralph Lauren's brand elevation ​strategy has coincided with a shift in Chinese consumer behaviour away from ultra-high-end luxury toward labels viewed as offering stronger value.

Ralph Lauren’s pricing positions it below European luxury houses, ​many of which have pushed steep price increases in recent years. According to figures from Bernstein, luxury brands as a whole raised prices 36% between 2020 and 2023, led by top-tier players like ‌Chanel and ⁠LVMH Group's (LVMH.PA), opens new tab Dior and Louis Vuitton.

Dresses at Ralph Lauren boutiques in China typically cost a few thousand yuan, with shirts often under 2,000 yuan ($294.24), compared with more than 20,000 yuan for dresses and over 6,000 yuan for shirts at brands like Dior.

“Another advantage is that they offer great value,” Neng said. “The brand's positioning and style are very high-end, meaning you're getting a high-class item for a smaller price.”

According to Jacques Roizen, co-founder of Shanghai-based Foresight Performance Partners, a large group of Chinese luxury shoppers has pulled back from ​top-tier brands as confidence weakened.

“She looks at Hermès ​and the like, and she says ⁠this is above my needs," he said. "The value proposition doesn't match my current confidence in the economy. And you've seen brands like Coach and Ralph Lauren do very, very well as a result."

Roizen said the brand’s recent performance reflects both this shift and years ​of strategic changes.

“You don't overperform the market by 50% because you got lucky," he said. "They've done a lot of things ​right."

Among those changes was ⁠a move away from heavy discounting.

“They’ve walked away from being, first and foremost, a brand that generated revenue on discounts during shopping festivals and all that stuff,” Roizen added.

The company has also invested heavily in upgrading stores and marketing, while adopting a city-by-city strategy that focuses resources on key urban markets like Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu to deepen customer engagement rather than ⁠expanding uniformly ​nationwide, said Yann Bozec, a former APAC president at Coach-owner Tapestry (TPR.N), opens new tab and founder of consultancy YB Stratis.

"When it ​comes to media spend, stores, events, targeted digital marketing, they will do it in those cities," he said. "It is a sound strategy to be very focused on some cities where they can achieve the reach ​and the frequency that they need in order to create impressions."

($1 = 6.7971 yuan)

Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai, additional reporting by Chenxi Yang; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Thomas Derpinghaus

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Casey is the Shanghai bureau chief and a senior correspondent covering companies in China, reporting on the biggest issues facing local and global businesses operating in the world's second largest economy. The Australian-born journalist has been based in Shanghai since 2007.