PALACE'S ACCIDENTAL EMPIRE

HOW A FUN-LOVING ENGLISH SKATE COMPANY WON OVER RALPH LAUREN, RONALDO, AND WIMBLEDON – AND BECAME THE MOST ENTERTAINING FASHION BRAND ON THE PLANET

-  NOAH JOHNSON

IN 2017, the English skater and designer Lev Tanju travelled from London to New York to take a meeting at the Madison Avenue headquarters of the Ralph Lauren Corporation. Palace, the skate brand Tanju had founded with friends in 2009, was on the brink of a momentous collaboration: working with the legendary American fashion company on a co-branded collection that was set to include silk pajamas, velvet slippers, and the beloved “heelflip” Polo Bear sweater. Ralph Lauren had always been one of Tanju’s favourite brands (and a favourite of just about any skater who came up in the ’90s). Nevertheless, Tanju arrived for the meeting attired as he would be on most other days – whether he was going to the pub or the skate park – wearing a pair of heather grey track pants that Palace had produced for a collaboration with Adidas, along with Gucci loafers in fluorescent green croc skin. The pants were particularly noticeable: They had a giant hole in one of the knees. What Tanju hadn’t considered was that he might be meeting with Ralph himself.

After a preliminary conversation with executives in a very corporate boardroom, Tanju and Palace cofounder Gareth Skewis were led through a pair of doors directly into Ralph’s office. “Oh, okay,” Tanju recalls. “Didn’t know about it.” Mr. Lauren, for what it’s worth, isn’t the type to be too concerned about dress codes, Tanju says. “Ralph don’t care about that shit,” he says. “He’s so varied in what he wears, do you know what I mean? He looks like a fucking mountaineer or a cowboy half the time. He runs his own kind of shit.”