Rapid News Brief
Ralph Lauren raised its annual sales outlook on Nov. 5, 2026, after a stronger second quarter, while forecasting slower holiday-quarter growth that partly reflects earlier wholesale shipments and reduced off-price sales.
The apparel company reported revenue of about $2.2 billion, up 9% from a year earlier, or 10% excluding currency movements. The fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 26; these are not results for the holiday shopping period.
A higher annual forecast, not a uniform pace
In its earnings announcement, Ralph Lauren put expected fiscal 2027 sales growth around 6% to 7% in constant currency, up from 5% to 6%, on a comparable 52-week basis. A 53rd week is expected to add another percentage point.
For the third quarter, the company forecast constant-currency revenue growth around 3% to 4%. That outlook already includes approximately one percentage point of combined drag from wholesale shipment timing and planned off-price reductions; it is not an additional deduction.
Earlier deliveries affect the comparison
North American wholesale revenue increased 8% in the second quarter. The company attributed about four percentage points of that growth to shipments brought forward from the fiscal year’s second half.
The distinction matters when reading the headline growth rate: the company identifies a timing benefit, not simply stronger underlying consumer demand. The second-quarter wholesale increase and the upcoming quarter’s forecast therefore describe different operating periods.
Management watches traffic and investment timing
Reuters reported that Chief Financial Officer Justin Picicci was closely monitoring European store traffic. Chief Executive Patrice Louvet described resilience among core customers and expressed optimism about the holidays, according to the report.
In Vogue Business’s account of the earnings call, Picicci said first-half sales growth was expected to exceed the second half’s. He cited the timing of marketing and other investments, wholesale shifts, off-price reductions and tougher comparisons in some markets. The same report says Louvet highlighted Wimbledon and U.S. Open activities among the quarter’s brand investments. The holiday outlook remains an expectation, not a completed result.