Hello!  I'm Patricia, designer and co-founder (along with my husband) of DeLaunay. I always say I love dressing modern-day heroines, so I thought it was time to share my own "origin story" in sustainable design.

When I began my career in 2004 after graduating from Otis College of Art + Design, I knew I wanted to work on lowering the industry's carbon footprint.  At the time, there were very few eco-brands I could work for; I think there were two in Southern California, and none were hiring. Instead, I landed at St. John Knits, a well-respected luxury brand, where I thought I'd start paying my dues and learn to design quality, made-to-last clothing.

I expected it wouldn't be long before the industry adopted widespread use of sustainable design practices. At that time we already knew the toll that the industry was taking on the environment; I thought surely the major brands would be stepping up "any minute" and I'd be just one of many sustainable collection designers at Ralph or Donna or Oscar.

I did indeed learn quite a bit about well-crafted clothing, first at St. John, then at Robert Rodriguez and Robert Talbott and so on. The years went by, and Stella McCartney in the U.K. remained one of the only major brands working on sustainability.

So finally, after 15 years of designing for other brands, I struck out on my own. DeLaunay was born because in 2016, I suddenly had an open schedule, enough self-funding to get started, and a deep desire to do something---even if that something was just a modest eco-clothing line---to help turn the tide, to keep global temperatures down.

In recent years, Fashion's major players have finally stepped up, implementing long-term efforts to lower their carbon footprints.  Every other week we hear another brand announcing their shift to circularity, zero-waste, sustainability, etc.  This is welcome, necessary and long overdue as there is simply no time to waste.

At DeLaunay we're staying true to the sustainable design practices that we implemented on Day 1.  And continuing to learn and improve our sustainable efforts every season.  Plus, I'm actively speaking to brand leaders about their sustainable goals and how my own learnings can help them.