When Danielle Guizio opened her first bricks-and-mortar store in New York’s SoHo in 2024, she didn’t expect it to rewrite her brand’s entire growth strategy. The tiny, 81 Greene Street space — intimate, high-touch and often lined down the block — became a real-time pulse check on how her customers shop, reshaping how she thought about her product, community and opportunities for scale.
This month, the brand is doubling down on that formula with a new store at Aventura Mall in Miami, the first step in a broader retail rollout that will continue into 2026 with locations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Washington DC’s Georgetown neighborhood.
Founded in 2014, Guizio launched her namesake label with a $400 tax refund that she used to create a small run of graphic T-shirts. After they ended up in the hands of Kylie Jenner, the brand quickly blew up, gaining traction for its expanded line of night out pieces like corsets and mini skirts, clothing that became staples for stars like Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Blackpink. The brand later tapped into a younger consumer through TikTok, where items like the micro-mini skirt went viral and introduced Guizio to a new generation of shoppers.
Now an eight-figure business, the expansion marks the beginning of a more ambitious phase. “Miami has felt like our second home for years. It’s one of our strongest markets online, so opening there was the most organic move,” Guizio says. The city consistently ranks among the brand’s top three US markets, reflecting the international, nightlife-driven, youth-oriented customer who has long powered Guizio’s growth.
The Miami store will mirror the approachable, stylist-guided retail model Guizio honed in New York. That store lifted the entire company, says Guizio. “It’s been life-changing for the brand,” she says. Products that stagnated online suddenly exploded in-person; the Mila zip-up sweater, for instance, has become a phenomenon, often purchased in multiples by groups of girlfriends. Lace camisoles and knit mini skirts also routinely sell out in-store, despite softer online performance, prompting Guizio to re-examine photography, fit details and messaging on its site. “In-person, you see the customer respond to pieces differently,” she says. “It changed how we think about product storytelling.”
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The in-person element has also proven irreplaceable. Mothers and daughters shop together, teens come in for bat mitzvah outfits, and older customers discover bolder pieces they may not have taken a chance on digitally. “Screens aside, it’s just me and her,” Guizio, who spends a lot of time at the store, says. “You learn so much about the customer when you’re standing right beside her.” Events, styling sessions and organic walk-ins have turned the SoHo location into a de facto community hub, driving both foot traffic and digital retention.
The next three stores follow the same customer logic: LA as a longtime epicenter for brand fans, Dallas as a surprisingly high-performing commercial market (Giuzio jokes that she’d never even been to the South before launching her brand), and Georgetown as a strategic entry point for the brand’s fast-growing college consumer. Guizio stresses that the strategy is not expansion for expansion’s sake. “We’re opening where we already have community,” she says. “Scale only works if the foundation is there.”
That foundation has been built quietly over the last two years. The team has grown to 35 employees across design, merchandising, operations and retail — fueled by a deliberate investment in supply chain, inventory planning and internal leadership. “People don’t see the behind the scenes — and they don’t need to,” Guizio says. “But nothing works without strong operations. That’s the recipe.”
The broader business is accelerating in tandem. Revenue is up 100% year-on-year through November. A sizable share of that momentum comes from the micro-mini skirt, which went viral on TikTok last Black Friday thanks to lo-fi, tongue-in-cheek videos Guizio and her team filmed on their phones. The brand made more than $2 million in 48 hours by pricing the micro-mini to compete directly with its dupes, converting thousands of new customers who later shopped across categories. “I always want the brand to look luxe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun,” the designer says. “The micro-mini videos were very car-salesman energy.”
Footwear is emerging as another growth engine for the brand. After years of collaborations, Guizio is now producing shoe styles in-house, most of which have sold out in popular sizes. The Miami store will debut a Puma collaboration available exclusively in-person, part of Guizio’s desire to create something of a “gift shop” with rare finds. “I want each store to have a take-home item you can only get by visiting — something memorable,” she says.
The move into new categories won’t stop there. Handbags are slated for 2026, and the brand is also developing its first fragrance. “Our customer is that Sephora-obsessed girl,” she says. “People ask me about my skincare and bodycare routine more than they ask about the clothes,” Guizio adds, hinting that the brand will soon expand into those categories, too. “I want to be able to offer her Guizio from head to toe.”
In a crowded contemporary market, Guizio believes the brand’s advantage comes from a mix of intentional design and cultural responsiveness. She points to her early paillette skirts — launched six years ago in an attempt to create a more accessible version of Paco Rabanne’s beloved design and widely referenced since — as an example of creating pieces that ripple outward into the market. “If we have the opportunity to make something incredible, why wouldn’t we?” she says. “Everything should have purpose and longevity.”
To Guizio, this moment doesn’t represent a change in direction, but the realization of years of behind-the-scenes work from her and her team. “It doesn’t feel like a surprise,” she says. “We’ve worked toward this foundation for so long.”
Still, the significance of the brand’s growth continues to hit her in real time. During a recent visit to the Miami site, passersby stopped to take photos in front of the unopened storefront; others asked for photos with her. “I step out of my bubble and think, ‘Wow — people are really in Guizio,’” she says. “When I see someone wearing our clothes, it feels like the first time every time.”
