OPEN LETTER TO PATAGONIA INC.

May 27, 2026

To Patagonia Inc.’s CEO Ryan Gellert, the Patagonia Board of Directors, and Patagonia Purpose Trust Trustees:

I’m writing today to appeal to your corporate and personal values. You lead an exceptional company, and the Chouinard family has done something unique and admirable in creating the Purpose Trust with one goal - to protect our planet.

I’ve had the honor of meeting some but not all of you, so a quick introduction here: I am a drag artist and climate activist named Pattie Gonia. I have spent 8 years building something I am proud of: A community of more than 3 million people, a nonprofit, $3.7 million raised for environmental causes, and bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the outdoors who never felt like they belonged there.

But now, after 8 years, some executives at your company and your outside lawyers have decided that I must cease to exist. They filed a federal trademark lawsuit against me in January. The lawsuit hurts not only me and everything I’ve built but also the people I employ, the millions of people I try to inspire, and dozens of nonprofit organizations that I have supported.

When Patagonia, Inc., sued me without warning in January, I started immediately pursuing an amicable settlement. I have believed from the beginning that there is room for an agreement that protects your trademark while letting me keep my name and my work. I believe that still today. 

If your executives and lawyers continue to pursue this lawsuit, it will make one thing clear: They are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to grind me down so far that I can’t continue to operate.

Is that how you believe your company’s financial resources and brand equity should be spent?

I’m afraid, but I’m also frustrated. Our home planet needs every dollar and every moment of time we can all give to it right now. We can’t afford to waste time and money fighting among ourselves. Patagonia says it’s in business to save our home planet. And Mr. Chouinard, you said, "You are what you do, not what you say you are."

This lawsuit serves no good purpose. Let’s make peace and get back to our common love of the planet including our namesake region in South America named Patagonia.

With respect and hope, I ask you to intervene and drop this lawsuit today.

Pattie Gonia

Image below is the Patagonia Region in South America courtesy of Intrepid.