How Danielle Guizio Turned a 'Daddy' Tee Into a Fashion Empire

In our long-running series "How I'm Making It," we talk to people making a living in the fashion and beauty industries about how they broke in and found success.

If you've spent any amount of time in downtown Manhattan — specifically, the East Village or Soho — chances are you've seen Danielle Guizio's designs. Her eponymous brand has found significant success with Gen Z (proven by the 11.4 million views on the "Danielle Guizio" hashtag on TikTok, as well as her 448,000 Instagram followers) thanks to its covetable updated Y2K designs, like low-rise cargo pants and paillette-covered micro-mini skirts. But she's not riding the -core wave, by any means: She's been establishing her own aesthetic since she founded the label in 2014.

Growing up in New Jersey, Guizio always felt she belonged in fashion. She never truly fit in when it came to sports or music, the two most popular pathways at her school. Her version of an "epic rush" was a trip to the mall.

The fact that her brand drives what's trending among the fashion community and A-listers (famous fans include Blackpink's Jennie, Bella Hadid and Ariana Grande) is gravy for Guizio. Her number-one mission, which outweighs any amount of cool-factor, is to make customers feel good in their bodies and embrace femininity. In a world where wearing short skirts and crop tops could make a woman be taken less seriously, Guizio challenges that idea, asserting that being feminine is a strength.

Below, Guizio tells me about starting her business out of her parent's basement, finding a fashion family in New York, designing a T-shirt that would propel the brand to conquer the closets of "It" girls everywhere and more.

What were the initial steps you took to make your dreams of becoming a designer happen?

I had a few friends in the industry that had started brands that were pretty successful at the time — a time before all of the Instagram madness. I was working for one of them, just helping out with whatever I could, shadowing them to understand the logistics. After that, I enrolled in fashion school because I was like, 'Okay, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with my life or where I'm going to go, but I know that I want to be in fashion.' I went to LIM College for fashion business, and I'm so grateful that I started my foundation by building my knowledge in business rather than design. I also worked at a retail store and learned how to understand the consumer. All these little things in the fashion world — whether it was retail, PR or marketing — were all so beneficial and helped me along the way. I gained so much real-life experience in those moments.

How did you reach the decision to leave fashion school, and what came next in your career?

My family could no longer put me through school due to financial issues, so I had to leave. I went to community college because I still wanted to further my career, so I just took business classes there. By that time, I had launched the brand online, and sales were quickly starting to come in. When I was in core classes like chemistry and history — topics I felt I had already learned in high school — I would be on my laptop answering customers or editing my website. I would be sitting in class and pretending I had to go to the bathroom when I was really going to the library to work on the packages I was sending out.

Is it fair to say that someone who wants to work in fashion doesn't necessarily need to go to a business or fashion school to pursue their dreams?

It's hard to say. There were classes about how to act in interviews, how to be professional with someone you respect and things like that, which I still carry with me. I had a class that taught you how to save money and how to find coupons when you're going shopping. Those are all important.

But I definitely think it's possible [to succeed without a formal education] because, in the real world, especially in New York City, when you throw yourself into the industry, you learn on a fast-track. I have a team I look at and I'm just like, 'Wow, they're learning so much more than I learned in school.' It's about finding the right people and shadowing them, finding the right opportunities and going for them and sometimes using life as your education.

When you launched your business, you did so pretty much by yourself, from creating the website to taking product shots to shipping orders out. What were some of the logistical challenges that came with doing that on your own?

Whether I was doing stylist pulls or even doing e-commerce photoshoots, I was just doing them — and I had no idea what I was doing at all. My best friend [Marcelo Gaia of Mirror Palais] was a stylist and my other best friend [Lisa Caprio of Heavy Manners] was a makeup artist; we would come together and learn from each other about how to do these logistical things. When it comes to tasks like SKU-ing pieces, it was just my little brother and me working out of a doctor's office at one point, literally reading online manuals and Googling things.

Was there any particularly challenging moment you dealt with during that time? How did you overcome it?

Every single day, I wake up and there's a new challenge I have to overcome — and they're all different. At one point, we lost our domain name. Someone stole it and held it for ransom. I was so upset that we had to change it to 'DanielleGuizioNY,' but looking back, that's so small.

There have been times when I've been scammed by vendors. I would spend all my money on producing shirts, and they would come and be ripped to shreds. It's a lot.

There are some sacrifices you have to make to not have a traditional nine-to-five. I'm so grateful for everything, though, even the bad days. It's a lot to wrap your head around. Honestly, I try not to think about it.

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Social media has been a major tool in your brand's popularity. What impact did growing up in the age of social media have on your approach to building your brand?

Growing up, I really relied on finding a sense of friendship and community online, which my friends at school would make fun of me for. But now, you meet up with people from Instagram, and it's completely normal. I still do that to this day — I meet up with people I've never met, that I've DM-ed, and they've changed my lives.

Growing up in a small town, there wasn't really anything to do. There wasn't a culture. There wasn't a vibe. There wasn't really anyone that made me feel like me, you know? I had a couple of best friends that made me feel seen and heard, but I really relied on a specific community on the internet that made me feel more like I belonged. Now, I've met so many people who have changed my career and helped me grow so much. I even find most of my employees on the internet.

The internet also connected you to the first celebrity to wear your brand: Kylie Jenner. How did that impact the business?

I sent her a 'Daddy' T-shirt. I was sitting in my bedroom in my parent's house, and she wore it. It blew up, and I was just like, 'What's going on?' I couldn't believe it. I still remember the feeling. It translated to sales, and I'm just so grateful for Kylie's support, even to this day. It's so crazy that someone could be wearing my brand for this long, and helped me so much throughout all this time.

That also led to Hailey Bieber's stylist reaching out to visit your showroom, which didn't exist at the time. What was it like, navigating the sudden interest in the brand and finding a space for your work?

In this business, especially when you're a startup, you know what to do and what moves to make because the universe is basically forcing you to. You have to push yourself, or else it's just not doable.

I was working out of a doctor's office, paying $400 a month, and Hailey's stylist asked to see the showroom. I probably had to lie about it and just send a lookbook. During this time, I was still living in New Jersey, but I'm making custom jackets for Kim and Kanye, rushing and driving so fast to get them over to the city. It was really like that, over and over again. I couldn't really afford to overnight things at that time, so I was just driving from New Jersey constantly to drop pieces off to people's stylists. It got to a point where I was finally like, 'I need to find a studio.' It just made sense.

After finding a studio, there would be times when I didn't have any emails, and it was so terrifying. But eventually, more and more work came in — thank God. It's really about focusing on keeping the momentum. That's still the most important aspect of what I do today. For example, if a celebrity is wearing your pieces, you have to make sure those pieces are in stock, that you have an inventory of them and that you know what's coming out next. Now that you have this customer, you can keep feeding them product that they want and need. It's just [about] keeping the gears turning.

What have been some of the biggest milestones for the business thus far?

It's so crazy thinking about it, but I would say some of our brand partnerships: starting out of my parents' house and fast-forwarding to now, where we have collaborations with Reebok and Levi's.

When I first started, I was distressing Levi's for a Rihanna music video, on my hands and knees literally getting blisters. She never wore one piece of it, and I felt so broken. But then I started making more custom Levi's for people, like Bella and Gigi Hadid. Now I have my own Levi's collaboration. I'm just so grateful for every single step of the way.

If there's one thing about me, it's that I'm going to celebrate every single win, even if it's a small one. From what I started with and what I have now is really crazy, and I'm just so grateful.

What's your advice for an aspiring designer who hopes to build a business as successful as yours?

Ask questions. Be alert. Be self-aware. Stand up for yourself. Be strong and hold your ground — especially when you're working with vendors and factories. [The fashion industry] isn't a place for someone naive. You really have to be quick and sharp, all the while being a good person and nourishing all your relationships. Be a good person, work hard and be extremely consistent. That's really the recipe: consistency.

Where do you hope to see the Danielle Guizio brand in the next five to 10 years?

We're working on so many different things right now. We're definitely opening up more categories — like shoes, handbags, home and a few other things that I have to wait to mention. We also have some fun collaborations coming up. I'm really looking forward to continuing to grow the brand, scaling the business and growing our team.

Your brand really focuses on empowering women and other people to feel unashamed of embracing their femininity. Where does that ethos stem from?

I'm constantly inspired by all women — specifically my mom. My mom raised me to feel like I could do whatever I wanted. She would say, 'You're going to wear whatever you want, and you can say whatever you want.' My dad, too. He was always like, 'You always have to fight for yourself. Never come down to what a man thinks or what a man expects from you.' All of that was what really inspired me to build the brand, and the ethos of empowering women and celebrating our bodies.

What do you hope the Danielle Guizio customer feels when they're in your designs?

I hope that she feels so beautiful. I feel like everything I do is about emotion and feeling. It's so important when someone comes up to me and she's like 'Oh my god, I've never felt so good. I've never felt so hot.' I go home and cry — there's no better compliment.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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