Photograph by Jodi Jones. Courtesy of Alina Cho.

John Patrick - Organic by John Patrick

John Patrick is known for independent design, uncompromising material integrity, and a refusal to participate in fashion’s excess. Founded in 2004, Organic by John Patrick emerged from an early and sustained interrogation of whether beauty and ethics could coexist within a global fashion system - answering not either/or, but both/and. In this archival conversation, he speaks with rare candour about education, supply chains, responsibility, and why the future remains his only real muse.

By Laurie Clémence   ·   Archival interview (conducted over a decade ago)

Conducted over a decade ago as part of Denude’s early editorial work, exploring sustainable luxury, independent authorship, and long-term cultural value.

“The future is the most exciting thing, always.”

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Where were you brought up, and what memories do you have of your childhood?

JOHN PATRICK
I was brought up in Delmar, New York - Albany County, which is the capital of New York State. My first memories are of riding the train into NYC with my grandmother and the train waiter wore gloves and served her a martini. We went to Broadway and an automat, where you bought an apple from a machine. My Norwegian grandmother loved that - she thought it was funny and novel.

JOHN PATRICK
She bought me a camel cashmere coat that I wore to third grade. It wasn’t really a hit, but the whole gender identity thing at the time was muted by bomb shelters and fear of the Cold War - hiding under desks during bomb drills. What bullshit that was.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Can you tell me what inspires you?

JOHN PATRICK
More like what doesn’t inspire me. The future is the most exciting thing, always. I’m constantly looking for fragments of the past sitting in the now and moving forward.

JOHN PATRICK
I recently discovered a hundred-year-old town named after a cotton seed brought to U.S. soil from Chiapas, Mexico at the turn of the century. Twelve people still live there and still grow a related strain of native seed cotton from Chiapas.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Tell me, in your own words, what Organic by John Patrick delivers.

JOHN PATRICK
We deliver a select choice. We deliver free all over the world. If you happen to notice us, I’ve insisted on producing things that I can understand 100%, so they are both useful and beautiful.

JOHN PATRICK
We deliver evolution in an industry that still sits in the 19th century. We deliver something you can depend on.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
What is the main problem with today’s fashion industry and its stance on sustainability?

JOHN PATRICK
Problems start with the schools - the students, the curriculum, academia. Many faculty members have little or no real industry experience. The brightest students have creativity whipped out of them and are told to aspire to multinational brands.

JOHN PATRICK
The industry is sucked into talk by a few charlatans who make money off lame ideas of “sustainability” - lame packaging, lame carbon footprint talk - ideas that linger like a bad smell from ten years ago.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Do you think they don’t learn about creativity?

JOHN PATRICK
They barely learn how to actually create, build, make, ship, pack, source, travel, find, dig.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Tell me about how you work. Where do you begin?

JOHN PATRICK
I stay as far away from New York as possible. I spend months in the Southwest restoring an adobe compound entirely by hand from earthen bricks - it will take years. I have four studios now. One in Southern Baja, Mexico - where I think and dream and sleep. One in my home in the Hudson River Valley, about 100 miles north of Gotham. One in downtown Albany, in an old warehouse where the archives are kept - I have a standing desk there. And another studio in the desert, where I don’t want visitors. That’s where I restore the adobe compound.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
What do you care about? What speaks to you?

JOHN PATRICK
My family. My life partner of 30 years. My associates Jessica and Paul. My mother. A handful of good friends I trust.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Is it hard to remain single-minded in a fashion world that doesn’t seem hugely concerned with ethics?

JOHN PATRICK
I pay no mind to the fashion world, as they pay no mind to me. I am Switzerland. I don’t watch the news or television. In my spare time, I sift through piles of what people throw out.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Your clothes are often described as beautiful and fragile. Is that what you think?

JOHN PATRICK
Sometimes I throw the clothes on the floor when I show buyers, they gasp. Clothes are tools. Samples are built to be discussed, used, corrected until they’re perfect. Clothes are meant to be worn. Period.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Who do you admire? What art do you admire?

JOHN PATRICK
I’m a big fan of the photographer Tracey Bailey - incredibly talented and one of the nicest people I know. I also collect the work of Chivas Clem. And Debbie Fleming Caffery is my favourite living photographer.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
And what women do you admire?

JOHN PATRICK
Women who stand up for what they believe in. Nina Marenzi, who founded the Sustainable Angle - a good friend and unwavering human being.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Who is the woman who wears your clothes?

JOHN PATRICK
I don’t imagine that. There are countless variations. Women from all over the world carry a little piece of our clothing with them. I’m grateful every day to work undisturbed and try to make solutions for a large industry.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
How can the industry truly change?

JOHN PATRICK
Drastic supply chain change. People talk about Bangladesh as if it’s the problem — it isn’t. Who owns the factories? Who owns the spinning mills?

JOHN PATRICK
Understanding farming and livestock control is integral to fashion. It’s one of the greatest gaps in education.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
Who is to blame?

JOHN PATRICK
Not the consumer. They’ve been fed horseshit by marketers chasing shareholder value. Cheap throwaway clothing has an incredibly negative impact on the world.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
How do you make sustainability possible?

JOHN PATRICK
By staying as far away from the mainstream as possible. I sell to no corporate clients, no department stores. I meet every retailer personally. We decline more business than we accept.

JOHN PATRICK
We work in upstate New York, far from New York City - so we have little contact with the constantly changing madness.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
What is the story behind your A/W 2015 collection?

JOHN PATRICK
It’s basic in cut, luxe in feel. Trusty pieces - cardigans, French coats - with a twist. The clothes do the talking themselves.

LAURIE CLÉMENCE
And finally - what excites you most?

JOHN PATRICK
The future. Always. I’m looking for fragments of the past sitting in the now and moving into the future.