Meet Danielle Ortiz Nas Rivera | Co-Founders & Creative Directors of Nada Sole™

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danielle Ortiz Nas Rivera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle Ortiz, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In 2020 we found ourselves in a position to make some serious life changes. After experiencing unpleasant corporate work environments, we decided it was time to branch out on our own. We have been long-time friends, we first met back in 2010 while studying abroad in Florence, Italy enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s international fashion design program. We each went out to pursue our fashion careers in New York City and Los Angeles. When we each made the decision to leave the corporate design world, we decided to utilize each other’s strengths and make a change in the fashion industry by creating a company we can be proud of. We, Nas & Danielle [NADA], joined together to share our passion & vision with the world; a multifunctional lifestyle brand that is Sustainable, Original, Luxurious & Excellent quality [SOLE]. We created a collection of high quality hybrid Swim | Active Wear made to go wherever you go; inspired by the modern woman’s lifestyle. The designs are a combination of Danielle’s passion for swimwear and lingerie, and Nas’s love of activewear and street-wear. The brand hopes to inspire women to feel confident, powerful and badass in Nada Sole™.

#Sweattoswim #madetofityourlifestyle

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us apart from most emerging fashion brands is that all of our designs are original, hand sketched and fit by us. We are involved in the entire process from the early development stages to the sales and marketing and more. When we started our brand we had a clear vision of what we wanted our brand to be and represent, sustainability, original design & style, luxury, and excellent quality. At Nada Sole™ we believe in quality over quantity. By creating Hybrid apparel that allows your clothing to be multifunctional, reduces waste and contributes to a more sustainable future. You can help the planet and look good doing it! We know first-hand the impact the fashion industry has on the environment, which is why we are striving to do better by sourcing products made from recycled materials when possible and finding sustainable solutions for our products. We had a lot of trouble sourcing a fabric that was made of recycled material and had the look and hand-feel that we wanted. So we worked directing with a fabric mill overseas to develop our very own fabric, the ‘Infinity’ fabric. All the colors in our first collection ‘Destination Paradise’ were hand picked by us and inspired by our travels and love of the tropics. All of our branding and packaging was also designed and developed by us. Of course we can’t do this all ourselves, we brought on a third team member to help facilitate and communicate with our overseas factories and manage our production. Having to make crucial decisions during very uncertain times, allowed us to master working under pressure and come up with more creative solutions as a team.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
New York City has so much to offer. It’s a place you can literally do anything, anytime, no matter what you’re into. NYC is the best in the summer time in our opinion. During the day you can check out battery park or hangout around the south street seaport for some good food and outdoor bars. The marina at Brookfield Place has sail boat wine tours around the Hudson River where you’ll get a up close view of the Statue of Liberty. And lots of cool outdoor gardens like the Highline and Little Island. Summer is also the best time to hangout at one of the many rooftop bars with an amazing view of the city. At night there are great comedy clubs, like the Comedy Cellar or you can check out a cool jazz club like Smalls or Mezzrow. NYC has some of the best food and restaurants, you’ll bump into many in LES or the village.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would like to dedicate our shoutout to our family and friends. Their outpour of love, support and encouragement has helped and inspired us to keep moving forward, even when times got tough. And we experienced some hard obstacles in the beginning development stages, especially in the midst of covid shut downs. But our family and friends have helped us make necessary connections, offered advice and words of encouragement, and were even our first customers when we finally launched our online store in January of 2022!

Website: www.nadasoleofficial.com

Instagram: @nadasoleofficial

Facebook: Nada Sole

Image Credits
Miami Photographer: Jonnathan Encinas