The man who turned around Polo Ralph Lauren may have renewed his contract for the last time.
President and Chief Operating Officer Roger Farah — one of the most respected apparel executives in the country — has agreed to extend his employment until March 2013, the company said in a securities filing this week.
The news wasn’t a given to some industry insiders, who note that Farah’s relationship with the fashion house’s famous founder and designer has sometimes been tense.
Farah has been exasperated by Ralph Lauren’s lavish spending and nepotism. He wasn’t shy about venting his frustrations when he first arrived 12 years ago, according to sources close to the company.
“Roger was amazed at all the friends of Ralph who were drawing fat paychecks, and all the basic stuff that wasn’t getting done,” said one source close to 56-year-old Farah. “He’d complain about how there were bolts of fabric sitting in the basement of the building that were 20 years old.”
Indeed, Farah has gained wide recognition on Wall Street for tightening the company’s operations, buying back key product licenses and boosting profits with a fast-growing chain of factory outlets.
Still, “Roger thinks he’s underappreciated by Ralph,” according to one source.
A company spokeswoman dismissed that as “hearsay” and “gossip.” Farah declined to comment.
But recently, sources said, Farah has told associates that this will be his final tour at Polo Ralph Lauren. While he has privately spoken of being “exhausted,” according to one source, his relationship with Lauren hasn’t helped.
This summer, after deciding to renew his contract, sources said Farah staged a quiet search for an outside executive to succeed him. One idea had been to hire an officer to share the president’s title with Jackwyn Nemerov, who is currently an executive vice president focused mainly on merchandise.
This week, however, Farah sent an internal memo to employees announcing that Nemerov “will assume additional and major organizational responsibility,” including a bigger role in the company’s Asia-Pacific business and its home products.
Nemerov now appears to be the front-runner to succeed Farah. But despite her ambition, sources say she lacks Farah’s financial savvy and wide operational expertise.
“That actually doesn’t seem to bother Ralph as much as it does other people,” according to one insider. “Ralph thinks it’s all about design and the creative side, and everything else is just housekeeping.”