Updated Nov. 8 3:45 p.m.

Ralph Lauren Corp. continued to play its game well within the fiscal second quarter — despite weakness within the North American wholesale business and a tougher economy. 

The corporate has been on a campaign to raise its brand and kept at it this quarter, boosting average unit retail prices at its own stores and on its website by 10 percent, on top of an 18 percent increase a yr earlier.

Overall, the brand has pushed its prices up a complete of greater than 70 percent over the past six years. 

That march higher has been driven by quite a lot of components — from the form of products sold to the costs charged to where they’re sold. 

Along the way in which, Ralph Lauren has turn out to be, well, more Ralph Lauren, by being much less reliant on the outlet business and much more focused on brand. 

“Our brand is our strongest asset,” said Patrice Louvet, president and chief executive officer, in an interview with WWD. “We’re driving momentum and desirability.” 

It’s an effort that Louvet said cuts across generations of consumers because the brand shows up across various platforms — from its runway show in Latest York Fashion Week to sponsorships with the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Ryder Cup to a partnership with Fortnite. 

That consumer reach and brand resonance has helped fuel the business through a tough consumer landscape.

Net income slipped modestly to $146.9 million from $150.5 million the prior yr, although diluted earnings per share ticked up 1 cent to $2.19 given a change within the variety of shares outstanding. (Altogether the corporate gave about $275 million back to shareholders through its dividend and share repurchases.)

Adjusted EPS got here in at $2.10 — well ahead of the $1.93 analysts projected, in line with FactSet.

Revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30 increased 3.4 percent year-over-year to $1.63 billion from $1.58 billion, with gains in Europe and Asia offsetting wholesale weakness in North America. The corporate’s revenues got here in $24 million over analysts’ best guess.

Louvet pointed specifically to the strength of the direct-to-consumer channel, which now makes up about two-thirds of the business and is doing well from the remaining outlet presence through its full-price stores and the web site. 

“All signs are pointing in the suitable direction with regards to our DTC business,” the CEO said. 

Wholesale — which has been a troublesome spot for brands across the spectrum this yr — stays a piece in progress. 

Ralph Lauren’s North American sales slipped 1 percent from the prior yr, to $718 million for the quarter, which included a 4 percent increase within the direct-to-consumer business and a 7 percent decline at wholesale. 

Picking up the slack were revenues in Europe, which increased 7 percent to $527 million, and the business in Asia, which rose 10 percent to $348 million.

Louvet said there’s a “real bifurcation” in wholesale.

The upper tier — think Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus — is doing well and the highest 50 or 100 stores in the following tier down are also seeing a “solid performance” with low-single-digit gains.  

“Where the pressure is is within the balance of the fleet,” Louvet said. “Those stores are in smaller cities across the country, where consumers are feeling more pressure and the brands and our partners are putting more emphasis on the highest stores.”

To raised present the brand he said more stores are going to tug together Ralph Lauren’s various classifications — which are actually separate — to make a stronger statement with full looks available in a single place. 

A number of the wholesale difficulties speak to the climate typically, with inflation, high rates of interest and other marcoeconomic and geopolitical concerns mixing up consumers. 

“We’re operating in a really unstable world,” Louvet said. “That’s turn out to be the norm, unfortunately, but we all know tips on how to navigate this.” 

Even so, he said the core Ralph Lauren consumer has been “quite resilient,” whilst the more value-oriented consumer has been feeling the strain. 

The brand continues to be anchored by its core product, including cashmere sweaters, tweet blazers and Oxford shirts.

“What we’re seeing is, when things get tougher, the consumers will are likely to gravitate to a brand they know, toward a product they trust,” the CEO said. “The core business is about 70 percent of our overall business and has done particularly well.”

The deal with brand and on core product come naturally to Louvet, a veteran of Procter & Gamble, which has turn out to be the launch pad for an increasing variety of CEOs in fashion, including Chip Bergh at Levi Strauss & Co., his soon to be successor Michelle Gass and Bracken Darell, the brand new chief at VF Corp.

Louvet also noted that Pietro Beccari, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, hails from Henkel, one other consumer product goods company.  

“A variety of the basics you learn in CPG, on brand constructing, on consumer understanding, on operational discipline are incredibly relevant on this space,” Louvet said. 

While it became commonplace to see CPG executives make the jump into beauty, they are actually coming into fashion, he noted.

“The basics are still a few brand, it’s still in regards to the consumer and it’s still in regards to the go-to market,” he said. 

Fashion has traditionally drawn its CEOs out of its own merchandising ranks. And while Louvet said that brings in executives with “incredible product understanding and operational experience,” he added that the CPG ex-pats usher in more branding experience. 

In fact Ralph Lauren, who serves as executive chairman and chief creative officer at the corporate he founded, has all of the branding expertise he ever needed. 

“We encourage people to embrace their sense of individual style through a timeless, elegant way of life. From our recent fashion show in Brooklyn to championing the resilience of sport on the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Ryder Cup, there’s a spirit of authenticity to all the things we do and it endures beyond any economic or fashion cycle,” Lauren said.