This is the world of Patricia Wolf. You’re in the right place if you love the adventure of wearing exciting and beautiful clothes. You’ve seen the Patricia Wolf Collections in stores all over the country and you’ve seen Patricia Wolf in national magazine ads and editorials such as "Cowboys and Indians", "Elle", "Texas Monthly", and "Southwest Art" magazines. We’ve even been on the cover of "TV Guide" with Reba McIntyre wearing Patricia Wolf.
In 25 years designing fashion apparel and accessories, the Wolf family has crafted a thriving business in a small town deep in the heart of Texas. Patricia has been called the queen of Western chic, but really the apparel line is "Couture Western Wear" influenced by (what else) the great American West, Native American, Spanish Vaquero and some European styling thrown in for good measure. If you think that high fashion is glamorous, consider the modest background of Patricia Wolf and see where high fashion started for this well known company.
On the Road
The year was 1973. Imagine listening to the Grateful Dead on the eight track and driving in a delightful hippy bus through the high desert on the way to their next art festival. Patricia and her husband Sam, with 2 young children, lived and worked in a beautifully crafted bus they called the “Prairie Schooner”. Patricia honed her designing skills by marketing their handmade leather clothing at arts and crafts festivals throughout the West. The Wolfs' were artisan nomads who were laying the foundation to the Patricia Wolf enterprise.
By combining leather and denim, she developed a rugged yet feminine look that attracted the attention of Levi Straus in San Francisco who, at the time, had not considered denim as a fashion statement. Forsaking the corporate world, Patricia declined the career opportunity as staff designer offered by Levi and instead settled in central Texas to raise a family and launch a new career with a Western couture apparel line.
Today, in Smithville, Texas, the 5 grandchildren might be found playfully disrupting things in the design studio when more serious work should probably be getting done. The family in Texas dates back to the 1800s before Texas was a state. Great Granddad was a real cowboy with a real a six-shooter. Great Grandma was a Cherokee Indian. After several generations, the Wolf family now also includes the extended family of loyal co-workers, some of whom have been with the Patricia Wolf Company for more than 20 years.
Carving out her Niche
Leather has always been the mainstay of the Patricia Wolf Collections and leather is still her signature look to this day. Cowboy stuff and Indian things work so well with leather and Western designing. 25 years ago when going to all the art festivals in the Rocky Mountains, everyone loved her cool Western leather clothing because, in those days the only Western clothes were polyester shirts, blue jeans, and square dance dresses. (How many of you remember square dancing?) Fun embellishments of antler, silver buttons, twisted fringe and beads were a rarity and people were just infatuated with the whole look.
In the early 1980s, Patricia transitioned into wholesale designing. She had learned that leather made a great medium for applying hand-painted Western scenes and Native American storytelling in painted glyphs. She introduced her line to wholesale buyers who had never seen anything like it before. They loved the vintage quality of her leather line and Patricia Wolf became a hot commodity almost overnight.
Patricia's line has evolved into a broad offering of Western, Native American, Vaquero, and contemporary looks. She designs complete outfits for a really put-together-look, but she also has fun with presenting eclectic separates that can be worn with just tee shirts and jeans. Rayons, silks, cottons, and stretch knits are used to compliment the leathers to create leather and textile vignettes that are quite feminine. Patricia’s repertoire now also includes Western lifestyle home furnishings such as pillows, table runners, and wall hangings as well as line of purses and fashion belts.
Patricia’s special talent is to bridge a Western style with contemporary looks to design clothes that are wearable, beautiful and fun in today’s world. The essence of the American West has always been the core of her collections, but the elegance and splendid fit she is known for, she attributes to Coco Channel, Gianni Versace and Ralph Lauren. “These fashion icons have helped define fashion as we all know it, and I am proud to be part of their industry and be in a business that accepts my self-expression.”
Full Circle
Patricia Wolf has come a long way since touring in that magnificent bus. As in the early days, she is again custom designing for selected customers who request something special. Custom designing is exciting because it requires interviews, fittings, and adjustments to create a finished piece, and custom designs sell for a higher price. Wholesale is still the bread and butter of the company and most customers can find plenty of wonderful Patricia Wolf styles at the many retail stores who carry her label.
Patricia gives a great interview and she has been the subject of several TV lifestyle segments and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Her many awards include the 1989 featured Designer at the Dallas Western Market, 1998 Texas Natural Fiber Designer of the Year, 2000 Honoree as the Houston Museum of Fine Arts Ready-To-Wear Artist, and 2003 featured Designer Western Image Awards of the Dallas Apparel Mart.
Patricia likes to say she is either a little fish in the big pond of international fashion design, or that she is a big fish in the small pond of specialized Western designing in America. Either way, Patricia is delighted just to be in the pond.
For more information about Patricia Wolf, or for dealer inquiries and trade show information, please call the corporate offices at 1-800-PAT-WOLF (1-800-728-9653).
