A new member of the Santa Fe community, Alexandra Herold, deserves a warm welcome and applause for starting an online clothing company, Patti + Ricky, offering adaptive fashion. When her mother Patti got a brain tumor, Herold became her supervisor at the age of 19 and was only able to shop in medical supply stores. Her cousin Ricky became unable to speak or walk, and noted how Herold sees her own disabilities – as a human experience. Herold is dyslexic, has ADHD, and has a physical disability known as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). She continues to curate a collection that now includes partnerships with Zappos and JC Penney, who offer unisex clothing and accessories for children.
SFR: Let’s start with how you started the company, what was your inspiration?
Alexandra Herold: Well, four years ago I was actually trying to start a nonprofit in Denver and came across magnetic shirts on Pinterest. and I thought, ‘Oh my god, they’re so cool. We all have to be magnetic. Why do we button? ‘ I thought to myself, ‘This is brilliant!’ So I called the company and they were the first company I started. I started Patti + Ricky with 12 adaptive fashion brands and now, four years later, I have over 100 brands we run.
My mom Patti was in the New York fashion industry – a super cool, beautiful, independent, strong woman – was very fashionable, and when she was diagnosed with brain cancer there wasn’t anything fashionable or functional out there for her. That was 13 years ago. So I went to a medical supply store. In the end I ordered a stick especially for her, which was pink with roses. When she had this beautiful stick, people came up to her. It became this topic of conversation and showed me that her walking stick was not just her vehicle to get where she needed to go, which was number one most important, but number two was a fashion accessory and made her feel good. It was really powerful to see the power of fashion.
I’m thinking about adaptive fashion, much like there used to be no plus size clothing and maternity clothing, and now plus size, size inclusivity, maternity clothing, clothing and fashion is a gigantic industry. I believe the adaptive fashion industry is the next one.
If you are unable to express yourself in the conventional way, it is almost all the more important to have that ability.
Well, I have to be honest with you, the fact that I can talk about fashion today is because of the incredible disability rights activists who got us to this point. Buildings, transportation, employment and schools are more accessible. We have come a long way, but we still have a lot to do. Inaccessible fashion is just another thing that doesn’t allow people to express themselves. It is so important. These people are consumers. They have credit cards. And they were never spoken to, never heard from. Until recently, they were never considered in fashion.
Do you need medical attention when procuring items, does the clothing require medical approval?
Most of our designers have disabilities themselves. You either have a loved one with a disability or you are a medical professional. We have a few designers who are occupational therapists, physical therapists and oncologists. At Patti + Ricky, we believe the experts are people with disabilities. They are experts in their own lives and that includes their fashion. So we are following their example. You have to be involved in the design process, otherwise it won’t sell. You know if it is necessary. When I first launched products, I thought about my mom and Ricky and what products they would want, and I still think about them as we add new products. We have a suggestions section at the bottom of our website and I let our customers tell us what they are looking for and we follow their lead. If it exists, I’ll find it.
I don’t have a physical disability, I’m scared too, but is it okay for someone like me to buy them?
We have products that are designed to be universal, such as magnetic and Velcro clothing or shoes with zippers. All of our pieces of jewelry are designed to be universal. Many of our accessories work on wheelchairs, but also on bicycles and scooters. I wanted to bring disability together as a whole. So if you have a physical disability, an invisible disability, something like fear that I have, or a learning disability to bring the disability together as a whole, we can come together. But also that this is a shop for everyone to see one day that it is simply better designed.
Every year you donate 10% of your profits to other non-profit organizations. Can you tell me a little about that?
I want to give something back to the community we belong to. We do a tremendous amount of research on nonprofits that we support to know that they are truly inclusive and empowering the people on this planet. Giving back is really important. Many of our individual designers have a give-back system. Even if you buy something from our website, they also give something back.
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