About This Stamp
As we come together to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, the U.S. Postal Service presents a pane of 13 commemorative stamps curated by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren.
For nearly six decades, Ralph Lauren has influenced American style. Throughout his life, he has been dedicated to protecting our cultural traditions, most notably in his commitment to preserving and conserving the 1813 flag that inspired our national anthem and became our national symbol—the Star-Spangled Banner—for generations to come.
Selected from his own unparalleled archive and from visuals that have inspired him, the images Ralph Lauren chose for the stamps embody our shared values and reflect the unique fabric of our nation: freedom, independence, equality, opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness.
For USPS art director Greg Breeding, this unique partnership between the Postal Service and Ralph Lauren promised to be an intriguing design project, but he soon found it a rewarding personal experience as well.
“One of my favorite aspects of the project was collaborating with the Ralph Lauren creative team,” Breeding says. “I already knew they had amazing talent and experience, but they were also very warm, friendly, and delightful people.”
Breeding also says that this issuance gave him a new appreciation for what the U.S. flag means to the public, especially when they see it on a stamp. He points out that the flag is a recurring motif on many of the American Icons stamps not only because of the country’s semiquincentennial celebration in 2026, but also because of what the flag means to Ralph Lauren himself. In 1998, Lauren took the lead in the fundraising needed to help the Smithsonian Institution save the original Star-Spangled Banner. The 1813 flag that inspired our national anthem required extensive preservation work before it could return to public display.
“It was an expensive undertaking but so very worth the effort,” Breeding notes. “Not many people realize the extent to which Ralph Lauren made it happen and prompted others to contribute to the cause.”
As this pane of stamps took shape, Breeding became increasingly aware of the widespread appeal of the Ralph Lauren aesthetic and the designer’s commitment to recognizing all aspects of the American experience. He especially appreciated the inclusion of a colorful blanket made by Naiomi Glasses, a seventh-generation Diné (Navajo) weaver who became the first Ralph Lauren artist in residence in 2023, as well as a baseball glove used by Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in Major League Baseball in 1947.
For Breeding, the American Icons stamps represent an important part of the Postal Service’s wider “USA 250” celebration.
“Ralph Lauren is a true American patriot,” he says. “His work has always been about inspiring us to fulfill our national ideals, and I think that carries over beautifully onto this stamp pane.”
The knit flag shown on the central stamp on the American Icons pane will also be featured on a separate U.S. Flag stamp issuance for 2026. The flag stamp will be issued in panes, booklets, and coils in a smaller, definitive format for widespread mail use and with the years “1776” and “2026” in red and “USA FOREVER” in blue.
Stamp Art Director
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.