Fashion designer Premal Patel, the founder and CEO of Australian label Runaway The Label, has died at the age of 47.
The brand confirmed his death in a tribute post, describing him as its visionary founder and leader.
UK outlet Daily Mail reported that Patel was found unresponsive at home and that a vaping device was found nearby, while authorities investigate and no official cause has been confirmed.
What makes this story especially haunting is that Patel had already spoken publicly about a terrifying health crisis just weeks earlier.
His November Instagram post reads differently now
In a long Instagram post shared in November, Patel wrote that he had been rushed into ICU with dangerously low oxygen levels and that his condition escalated across multiple hospital visits.
He said he spent a week in hospital going through test after test without clear answers.
He also described returning to emergency care soon after discharging himself and later ending up back in ICU again.
In the most alarming part, Patel wrote that he was placed into an induced coma and had tubes down into his lungs because the inflammation was so severe that his lungs could not absorb oxygen.
He described being on extremely high-flow support and said plainly that he was dying.
“Take this seriously.”
Patel used that post to deliver a stark message about vaping and the way people can underestimate risk until it becomes personal.
He wrote that if you vape and want to gamble with your life, keep vaping, then followed it with the line that he chooses life.
He said he would never put his loved ones through that kind of fear again.
He also wrote that the one thing he thought he had under control became the hardest battle of his life.
He urged people to take it seriously, adding that he always thought “that won’t happen to me,” but that it did.
He ended with a sentence that now feels painfully heavy: We are not invincible.
Who Premal Patel was and what he built
Patel wasn’t just “a designer,” he was a brand-builder and creative director who helped shape Runaway The Label into a recognizable name with a glossy, confident aesthetic and a loyal audience.
He was known for fashion that photographed well, travelled well, and made people feel like the main character, which is exactly why his pieces became so popular online and in influencer circles.
His work sat in that sweet spot between wearable and statement-making, with a strong eye for styling and a clear understanding of how modern fashion is sold through imagery as much as fabric.
A note on what we know and what we don’t
Because an official cause of death has not been publicly confirmed, it’s important not to turn this into speculation or a simplistic conclusion.
But the timeline matters, and the fact that Patel chose to speak openly about an ICU ordeal and warn others is significant context that deserves to be included with care.
Premal Patel leaves behind a fashion legacy, a brand he built, and words that many people are now reading as both a warning and a reminder to choose survival whenever you can.
📷 IG: @ prem_rnwy