Raiders of the Lost Scent: Some brief notes about dating Ralph Lauren perfumes (unpublished article)

(Foreword: these are the notes relating to Ralph Lauren perfumes that Andre left. These notes should have become a complete post, but instead they remained in a raw state. Please consider that no one of us has any idea who "Saunders" is; he is probably a friend who worked at L'Oreal. - all pictures taken on the net, and added later)

About Calvin Klein: Saunders suggests to ask Piatigorsky, OK. I asked Saunders if he remembers anything about the Ralph Lauren batchcodes or methods for dating vintage RL perfumes. Saunders says he remembers just a few things, many years have passed and he has vague memories. The situation was very messed up with RL perfumes. Saunders remembers a couple of stories that clearly explains the situation they were in.... here it is: at a certain point dealing with "Ralph Lauren Polo Sport Women", they found themselves faced with three, four different batchcodes. These batchcodes had become so confusing and incomprehensible, thus they had to change batchcodes (this aspect needs to be explored further ).

The other story: at a certain point in the production of "Polo" and "Safari for Men", there was a stock of old stickers and boxes left. Well, they continued to use them until ran out. This means that the batchcode was up to date, ...but the labels on the bottle (and/or the box) were from 5-6 years old: i.e, stickers were outdated.

Really confusing. (to investigate further.).

Saunders says the scent he remembers best is Polo Crest, because he worked on the marketing personally. Polo Crest: launched in 1991, discontinued in 1999, and underwent a reformulation in the middle. OK.

Saunders says that before understanding batchcodes you need to understand the timeline of labels, because it helps a lot.

First thing to do: Keep in mind that there are Ralph Lauren perfumes "made in USA" and those "made in France". So, the first thing to do is "check" the country: France or USA? (Saunders doesn't remember if there was a production line in UK too, i.e. a "made in UK", to investigate further).

Perfumes "made in France" are relatively easy to date. They have the classic batchcodes used by L'Oreal, for example those of Guy Laroche. Exactly the same. (i.e. SBxx or UBxx = 1982, SCxx or UCxx=1983, SDxx or UDxx=1984, SExx or UExx = 1985 etc. )

There are a lot more problems with "made in USA" bottles. There are batchcodes with 3,4,5,6 or even more digits, although the most common were 3-digits batchcode.

So, step-by-step......

this is the AMERICAN TIMELINE -and labels- according to Saunders:

very, very roughly:

1978-1984: "Warner/Lauren"

1984-1987: "Warner/Cosmair"

1987-1990: "Designer Fragrance Div./Cosmair"

1990-2000: "Cosmair"

2000-onwards: "Luxury Products LLC" (or "L'Oreal USA")

and remember that stickers/ labels could be "outdated": it's easy to find bottles batchcoded "year 2005", say, with more ancient "Cosmair" labels (instead of "Luxury Products" ones).

more details:

1978 - WARNER/LAUREN

Launch of first Ralph Lauren fragrances: LAUREN and POLO, marketed by WARNER COSMETICS. Fragrances are usually labelled:

"Warner/Lauren".

1984-1987 - WARNER/COSMAIR

During 1984, COSMAIR INC. (i.e. L'Oreal France cosmetic and fragrance licensee in the Americas) bought Warner Cosmetics.

During years 1984-1987 approximately, fragrances are labelled

"Warner Cosmetic, dist., div. of Cosmair."

1987-1990 DESIGNER FRAGRANCES

between 1986, and 1990 (or 1991?)

All fragrances labelled:

"DESIGNER FRAGRANCES DIV.,

COSMAIR INC DIST."

1991 -2000 : COSMAIR

all fragrances simply labelled : "COSMAIR" (no "Warner", no "Designer Fragrances" wordings).

I point out to Saunders the existence of some bottles with the "UTIF MI 294" italian label, quite strange. Saunders tells me not to pay too much attention, it is an old certification, dating back to the '80s, which has no longer been updated, and it's quite confusing. Better to rely on "Warner", "Designer Fragrances" and "Cosmair" labels.

(Beware! be careful: as Saunders said, some perfumes, for example Polo and Safari for Men, may have old labels on new bottles. so you can easily find modern batchcodes with old labels.)

2000 and beyond -

"Luxury Products LLC" (or: L'Oreal USA).

All fragrances now labelled "Luxury Products LLC", (actually, Luxury Product LLC is the "new" name of Cosmair) or L'Oreal USA.

then...

YEARS of APPEARANCE:

1978: LAUREN and POLO

1979: CHAPS and TUXEDO

1984: TUXEDO DELICATE

1985: MONOGRAM and CHAPS MUSK

1990: SAFARI

1991: POLO CREST

1992: SAFARI FOR MEN

1993: POLO SPORT

1996: POLO SPORT WOMEN

1998: ROMANCE

1999: ROMANCE FOR MEN

2000: RALPH

2001: GLAMOROUS

Then, VERY IMPORTANT...

BATCHCODES

A bit confusing here....Saunders says when you find a three or four digit batchcode ending with a number (e.g AB1 or DS2 ore DLZ3 or FHE4 or KJ5 ) that final number is the YEAR (1981 or 1991, 1982 or 1992, 1983 or 1993.... according to the "Warner" or "Cosmair" or "Division Fragrance" label). Okay.

IMPORTANT: Saunders says he is reasonably sure that last time these "short" batchcodes were used was in 1996.

(so remember: 3-4 digits batchcodes lasted until 1996).

BUT...

...when you find two or three numbers in a row, you have to check the letter immediately before the numbers (e.g., or S123, or GU145X, or FB124, or 10C321, or FT50B)

and these are the years:

S= 1997

T= 1998

U=1999

V=2000

W=2001

X=2002

Y=2003

A=2004 (letter Z apparently not used)

finally...

REFORMULATIONS

Here, Saunders can only speculate, based on his memories. there is no certainty. DO NOT consider it as certain. Anyway he does not give importance to reformulations, at least until year 2000.

Here:

POLO : original formula, plus TWO reformulations until year 2000. Total: 3 formulas between 1978 and 2000

POLO CREST: original formula, plus ONE reformulation. Total 2 formulas between 1991 and 1999.

Apart this, remember: "the older, the better". After year 2000: cheapening formulas, changing materials, etc.

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A FEW EXPLANATORY PICS