Pattie Gonia is breaking her silence regarding a lawsuit from Patagonia.
The 33-year-old drag queen, activist and environmentalist issued a statement on Wednesday (May 27), breaking her silence regarding the lawsuit brought forward by the outdoor clothing and gear company.
Patagonia claims it must protect its trademarks
“Patagonia must protect its iconic trademarks, even when it supports or agrees with Pattie Gonia’s views, message, or objectives,” the lawsuit said.
Pattie Gonia says “this is not a joke”
“today I’m speaking publicly for the first time about the lawsuit patagonia inc, filed against me, a climate activist, in federal court,” Pattie began in a statement.
“this is not a joke. this is real.”
“patagonia is taking me to court because they claim i’m causing ‘irreparable’ harm to their brand by doing, and wait for it, ‘motivational speaking services in support of environmental sustainability’ and ‘organizing, arranging, and conducting trail and hiking events.’”
“patagonia Inc. claims ‘they’re in business to save the home planet’ if this is what saving the home planet looks like to them, then one of us has profoundly misunderstood the assignment and it’s not me. over the last 4 months since the lawsuit was filed, i have stayed silent and worked every channel i had to resolve this without going to court. but in the end, I had two choices: 1. the erasure of my name, my advocacy, my community, and everyone i employ or 2. fight for myself and fight for us. so i’m fighting, and i’m inviting you to join me in a simple call to action: patagonia, drop the lawsuit.”
Patagonia allegedly requested just $1 and attorneys’ fees, and requested to bar the performer from continuing to sell merchandise, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
Pattie says the lawsuit threatens her career
In her response note, Pattie wrote: “Patagonia told the media they’re only suing me for $1. What they’re actually trying to do is take away my name permanently and threaten me with more than $1M million dollars in legal fees.”
“This is not a brand conflict. This is a corporation trying to erase an activist. This is how corporations bully individuals who cannot match their resources.”
The legal battle is ongoing
You can see Patagonia‘s full statement about the lawsuit issued in January below:
Today Patagonia filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the entrepreneur, drag queen, and activist Pattie Gonia. While we wish we didn’t have to do this – and actively engaged with Pattie for several years to avoid this – it has become necessary to protect the brand we have spent the last 50 years building.
We’re not against art, creative expression, or commentary about our brand. We want Pattie to have a long and successful career and make progress on issues that matter – but in a way that respects Patagonia’s intellectual property and ability to use our brand to sell products and advocate for the environment. For more than three years, Patagonia engaged in open dialogue with Pattie Gonia to discuss ways she could continue her environmental and social advocacy, brand deals, and other work without infringing on our trademarks. We thought we’d reached an agreement and, for a while, it worked.
Unfortunately, in late 2024, Pattie Gonia started selling “Pattie Gonia” branded apparel online and continued to create and use versions of our logo. Our outreach to Pattie asking her to stick to our agreement was refused. A subsequent note asking to discuss potential ways forward got no response. Then, in September of 2025, Pattie Gonia filed a trademark application seeking the exclusive rights to use the brand “Pattie Gonia” to sell clothing and apparel, promote environmental activism, engage in online marketing and endorsements, and more. These rights would directly overlap with the work we do and the products we provide – for which we have longstanding rights and trademark registrations.
To maintain our own rights, we must prevent others from copying our brands and logos. If we do not, we risk losing the ability to defend our trademarks entirely. To put a finer point on it, we cannot selectively choose to enforce our rights based on whether we agree with a particular point of view. Inconsistent enforcement might prevent us from stopping entities like the oil and gas lobby, counterfeiters, hate groups, or other bad actors from using the Patagonia name and logo. These are not hypothetical examples; they are real instances of past trademark infringements we successfully stopped only because we have been consistent in defending our rights.
For these reasons Pattie Gonia’s use of a near-copy of our name commercially – including as a brand for environmental advocacy – and her trademark application seeking to obtain the exclusive right to use that name going forward, pose long-term threats to Patagonia’s brand and our activism.
For more information on the situation you can view our legal filing here.
Time previously included Pattie Gonia in their list of Next Generation Leaders, and she was also named a National Geographic Traveler of the Year.
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