Daniel Patrick On Design, His Brand’s Place in Streetwear, And Why China Is The Company’s Next Big Chapter

Justin Bieber, James Harden, Gigi Hadid, Khloe Kardashian, and Kendall Jenner. What do all these celebrities have in common?

Take a moment to look at their style. Each have rocked and supported one of the most coveted streetwear designers in Los Angeles, Daniel Patrick. Patrick, who moved to the U.S. after attending design school in Australia, has taken the streetwear and fashion industry by storm. His unique cuts, designs, and fits are reimagining the future of streetwear.

So what makes his designs so unique? His background may have something to do with it. His collections draw inspiration from his favorite cities, Los Angeles and New York, his upbringing as a native Australian, and his athletic background as a semi-pro rugby player. Combine that with his love of hip hop music and culture, and Patrick has not only established his designs as must-haves but has created some of the most in-demand capsule collections with personalities like Tyga and James Harden. To discuss Patrick’s entrepreneurial journey, I got a chance to sit with him in his Los Angeles storefront where he broke down his journey building the brand, his design inspirations, and where he is looking to take the brand in the near future.

From growing up and going to design school in Australia, to moving to the west coast of the United States with two suitcases in hand, there is no question you have been on quite the entrepreneurial journey. Give us some insight into the process of being a business run from an apartment to now having a flagship store in LA.

There has definitely been a lot of challenges from figuring out your manufacturing, finding your voice as a designer, dealing with finances and ending relationships with people when things aren’t working out. I feel you learn a lot of lessons, sometimes hard ones, from negative experiences, as well as from the positive successes. In business, you start out thinking it’s going to be easy, but there are a lot of unforeseen obstacles that arise and each time you best one of those, it definitely gives you more confidence to push forward.

For me though, having lofty goals from day one is the key and then pushing forward to them. I feel like you have to aim for the stars or even a little above it to make it. I always had goals to be a Ralph Lauren or a Rick Owens as a company size. I look up to these guys as they are my heroes. In my opinion, entrepreneurs are game players and they haven’t lost the imagination that a child has in looking up to his heroes and wanting to be Superman or Batman.

One of your most iconic music collaborations was with rap superstar, Tyga. How did this collaboration come about and are you planning on doing any other musician collaborations in the near future?

The Tyga collab was a great experience. This came about organically through Tyga wearing our stuff to connecting through instagram and having him come through our store and dropping thousands of dollars. So he was a fan and wearing the gear at the time, so it made sense and we partnered with Revolve for the launch. I am a big hip hop and rap fan and it definitely inspires a lot of what I do. We do not have any musician-based collabs in the works, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the right partnership. It would be dope to do tour merch or something like that down the line.

The cuts and style of your collections are truly one of a kind. What inspires your designs and are you thinking about the many athletes and cultural icons that are fans of your brand when you develop your products?

I think about what I want to wear, and then I create it. I also look at what does well for the brand and develop those areas as well. I don’t know if I create specifically with an athlete in mind, but it does cross my mind about my customer and how it will fit them and work for them and what situations they can wear it in, especially when you have clients that are pushing seven feet. I’m a big NBA fan and a big fan of the walk-in to the arena. That for me is the modern day runway. What inspires me aesthetically is pretty random from hip hop music, basketball, Los Angeles, New York, the ‘90s to mountains and Nordic interior design, and it all comes together in a melting pot to give you what you see.

China represents a massive opportunity for brands to capture one of the most important territories for consumer brands. Does your band have any plans to expand into that region in the near future?

China has been a market that I would say has been kind to us and definitely a focus of expansion for the brand. We have a large contingent of Chinese fans of the brand around the world, not just in mainland China, and it’s exciting [to see] opportunities that potentially lay in that part of the world for the company. I guess you will have to watch this space to see how that develops.

Your collaboration with James Harden is one of the most exciting capsule collections your brand has had to date. How did this capsule collection come about and do you think you may work with more NBA players in the future to create exclusive collections?

We met with Adidas Basketball back in 2018 during the All-Star weekend when it was in LA, and we spoke about working together. I was excited by the opportunity to work with Adidas Basketball as it wasn’t the usual collaboration route within Adidas, and presented us with the ability to partner with someone like James, who I’m a fan of. I love how he plays the game, and his swag off the court, too, so it was a perfect fit for me. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to working with other NBA players in the future, as well.

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About the Author

Clayton Durant Clayton Durant is the founder and CEO of CAD Management, an entertainment consulting company that focuses on event, tour, and strategic management for indie artists and brands. Email him at [email protected] to connect.