What was the first product Ralph Lauren designed and sold?

The first product Ralph Lauren designed and sold was a necktie.

Lauren entered the fashion business through menswear accessories rather than shirts or suits. In 1967, while working for the tie manufacturer Beau Brummell, he developed a line of wide, distinctive men’s ties under the name Polo. Their rich fabrics and unusual proportions stood out at a time when narrower ties were fashionable.

Lauren initially worked from a single drawer in the Empire State Building and personally helped get the ties into major department stores. The success of that neckwear line gave him the foundation to expand. In 1968, he introduced his first complete men’s collection, also called Polo.

The polo shirt became the brand’s defining product much later. Lauren introduced his famous short-sleeved cotton mesh polo shirt in 1972, offering it in 24 colors. That timeline is why “polo shirt” is a tempting but incorrect answer: it was an iconic early product, not his first one.