Heather Ortiz is a Cuban-American knitwear designer based in New York City and a 2023 Pratt Institute Fashion Design BFA graduate, with minors in Sustainability Studies and History of Art & Design. She has served on the knitwear design teams at DION LEE and Calvin Klein, with previous design internship experience at Talbots and Stellah NYC.

 

Her senior thesis, INFLEX F/W’23, is a fully-fashioned knitwear collection inspired by the optical and geometric motifs of 1960s OP Art. Through engineered surface design, scale, and silhouette manipulation, the collection aims to distort, enhance, question, and re-address the form. Press coverage for collection includes Vogue Runway, WWD, Fashionista, and Hypebeast. Ortiz was also selected as one of 52 designers for the CFDA Fashion Futures Graduate program and showcased her work during NYFW Fall 2023. 

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Her work explores positive and negative space relationships through experimental knitwear, while aiming to prioritize practicality, functionality, durability, and the wearer’s experience. Sustainability and inclusivity are central to her approach, reflecting her commitment to contributing to a more responsible and equitable fashion industry.

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