Ralph Lauren polo shirts look good, do good

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Summer Fridays are a Manhattan tradition, allowing office workers to close up shop early and head out to weekend shares in the Hamptons, Shelter Island or upstate New York. That’s the breezy, ‘school’s out’ feel that the new limited-edition Ralph Lauren polo tries to conjure in a look-good/do-good line to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

The $55 cropped shirts, available at www.net-a-porter.com until Sept. 25, come in summer shades such as white, green and yellow, plus turquoise and red, and they’re sized extra-small through extra-large. The net proceeds go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other organizations supported by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and its Fashion Targets Breast Cancer initiative.

‘Think casual Friday,’ says Steven Kolb, CFDA executive director. ‘The colors are bright and cheerful, and the polos will look great with summer khaki, denim or anything white.’

The shirts get a graphic pop from the logo of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, the organization Lauren created 15 years ago to honor his friend Nina Hyde, fashion editor for the Washington Post, who died of the disease in 1990. The foundation has raised more than $40 million for breast cancer research, education, screening and patient care, and Net-a-Porter shoppers can donate $5 with any purchase by selecting the option on the site’s order confirmation page.

‘Everyone has been impacted by breast cancer,’ Kolb says, ‘and it will be a strong statement of support when you see those numbers add up as represented by women wearing the polos.’

www.fashiontargetsbreastcancer.org

-- Max Padilla