Polo Ralph Lauren Enters the Metaverse With Trademark Filing

Based on the fashion house’s latest trademark filings, it appears that Ralph Lauren is working on several NFT and metaverse-related initiatives.

According to attorney Mike Kondoudis, the legendary label applied for a series of trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office on April 04:

• Its well-known emblem depicts a polo player on a horse.
• Polo is a name that has been given to a horse
• Ralph Lauren’s catchphrase

The trademark application protects POLO, RALPH LAUREN, and the POLO Player logo. The trademark protects Polo Ralph Lauren’s rights to virtual fashion shows, NFT backed multimedia, virtual hotels, restaurants, and fashion merchandise like apparel, footwear, and perfumes.

The petition includes trademark acts IC 009, IC 041, and IC 043. It establishes Polo Ralph Lauren’s digital asset ownership in a new emerging virtual domain.

IC 009 – Rights to download virtual artworks, such as fashion items and virtual products, and downloadable software with a bitcoin wallet are included.

Ralph Lauren intends to leverage the Polo brand name in various contexts. These are the uses listed in its trademark filings verbatim:

• Multimedia files with artwork connected to fashion, lifestyle, apparel, footwear, accessories, perfumes, home products, and collectibles may be downloaded and validated by NFTs.
• Virtual products that may be downloaded and used in online virtual worlds include apparel, footwear, accessories, perfumes, and home goods.
• A computer program for use as a bitcoin wallet that may be downloaded.

This appears to be the right time for the next great fashion brand to stake its claim in the metaverse. According to Morgan Stanley’s research, the metaverse and Web3 might help luxury companies such as Ralph Lauren increase their total addressable market by more than 10% by 2030.

According to the investment bank and financial services firm, luxury brands that enter the virtual clothes business will have a roughly $55 billion revenue opportunity.

For quite some time, RL has been working on its virtual identity. Last year, the fashion house created a 24-hour digital store on Roblox for consumers to wear their avatars in its designs. Backpacks, Polo shirts, and puffy jackets are among the virtual clothing and accessories available to users.