This designer creates awesome face masks that show off your personality
Made in Vancouver is a collaboration between Vancity and Daily Hive. Together, we’re turning the spotlight onto local businesses, organizations, and individuals who are helping to create a healthy local economy.
Ever since she was young, Liza Heider knew that she loved to design.
Starting with crochet at 8 years old, the Canadian-American designer has upgraded to handcrafted fashion accessories and women’s clothing out of her studio in East Vancouver.
As part of our Made in Vancouver series spotlighting local businesses, we talked to Liza Heider, the owner of Liza Heider Design, about her philosophy and designs.
Vancity has been supporting local businesses like Liza Heider Design with different programs. Now until Sept 30, Vancity enviro™ Visa* cardholders will earn 1.5x the rewards points at select businesses through the Load Up on Local program. To learn more, visit vancity.com/local
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Liza Heider has four main goals in her business: to create fashion that sparks joy, elegance, originality and playfulness to the world, to upcycle secondhand and fast fashion clothing into new and quality garments, to support local businesses, and to ship her products in recycled packaging and boxes whenever possible.
Rather than considering her designs simple pieces of clothing, Heider creates one-of-a-kind wearable works of art.
She often collaborates with Canadian artisans, designers, and makers, and even signed a third-party agreement with the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund due to the latest discoveries of children found in unmarked graves all over Canada. For every Canada Love t-shirt sold, a donation of $5 will go towards the Gord Downie non-profit.
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Unlike most designers these days, Heider didn’t get her start at fashion school. Instead, it came through an act of kindness.
“I decided to start fashion designing when I was called upon a sewing group called YVMERS, an emergency response group to make PPE for health care workers during the COVID pandemic,” she told Daily Hive.
“I never thought I would sew again as I worked as a photographer for many years. Once I started sewing, I decided to make face masks and clothing. One thing led to the next and now I’m doing craft fairs and have an online store.”
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In order to keep up with today’s ever-changing world of fashion, Heider uses social media and magazines. She follows a lot of designers on Instagram and is even a member of Business of Fashion which is an organization that keeps her apprised on garment working conditions, sustainability, and waste in fashion.
Her current favourite thing to produce is high-quality, three-layer face masks that meet both CDC and Health Canada guidelines.
“As we are masking up again, I’m happy to provide a product that is not only needed but fashionable and safe. I am so disappointed at the lack of understanding that non-medical paper disposable masks are not only destroying the environment as these masks are flooding our oceans and strangling birds and wildlife, but these disposable masks do not keep people any more safe compared to a reusable fabric 3-layer mask.”
She explained to Daily Hive that a three-layer fabric mask with a non-woven filter “does the job and can be washed and reused dozens of times.”
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Follow Liza Heider Design on Instagram to keep up with her latest work. Her designs, including face masks and Canada Love t-shirt, can be purchased through her website lizaheiderdesign.com.
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