If you needed a sign to evolve beyond your first success, consider Tina Rodiou. With a background in economics and business, the Aya Muse founder saw an opening in fashion and took it: biker shorts. But even as they gained traction, she knew she didn’t want one product to define the brand she was building.

With limited funds and no fashion-industry connections, she launched Aya Muse in 2018 with one style of biker shorts in four colors, producing approximately 200 units in Los Angeles. The name combines what the brand describes as the Japanese word for “beautiful” and the Greek term for “inspiration”: beautiful inspiration.

“There was this huge moment where everyone was loving biker shorts, but there wasn’t really anyone doing them in an elevated way,” Rodiou shares with me over Zoom.

Eight years later, Aya Muse reports approximately 100% revenue growth over the past three years — doubling its revenue while remaining entirely self-funded and independently owned. The company has seven full-time employees and has broadened its product offering and international distribution.

Behind those figures is a founder balancing the products people already want with the business she wants to build next.

Rodiou initially saw herself on the business side of fashion. Designing a collection, learning production and figuring out wholesale came through doing.

Within approximately three months of launching, she says, LuisaViaRoma approached her about a capsule collection. For a founder running the business alone, it was early validation from a retailer she admired.

And here’s the first lesson in Rodiou’s trajectory: Your first product can open the door.

Biker shorts gave Aya Muse a recognizable entry point, with stylists pulling pieces for celebrity clients. But Rodiou saw the limits of building around one trending product. As sales grew, she reinvested in the business and began developing a broader wardrobe.

The transition happened gradually: biker shorts became knit biker shorts, then a knit romper and cardigan. Rodiou recalls approximately 3,000 people waiting for the romper in one day, against an initial supply of around 300 units.

Knitwear opened up possibilities in texture, construction and silhouette. It also required learning a different production process. Customers and retail partners who knew what sold didn’t immediately understand the shift; Rodiou had to give them reasons to follow.

“The evolution was about deepening the point of view, not chasing categories,” she says.

In October 2020, Emily Ratajkowski stepped out in a cutout Aya Muse dress on the same day she announced her pregnancy through a Vogue digital cover. The body-skimming silhouette put her growing bump on display, making the label part of a widely covered moment in maternity style.

Rodiou recalls it as a defining moment. The brand’s celebrity following also includes Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Kendall Jenner and Margot Robbie. But making room for customers’ everyday lives has been central to its evolution.

Dresses and knitwear remain important pillars, while tanks, T-shirts and jeans have expanded the offering. Rodiou says some tanks have become recurring bestsellers at Revolve and FWRD.

The customer drawn in by a cutout dress may spend much more of her life in a sweater and jeans. Building out that wardrobe creates more opportunities to connect, at different price points.

In 2023, Lily-Rose Depp wore Aya Muse’s Merano dress in The Idol . According to Rodiou, the appearance generated significant demand for a design from an earlier collection. She decided against reproducing it.

“We felt it was more important to remain disciplined than to maximize the short-term revenue associated with a proven bestseller,” she says.

It was a commercial trade-off: passing on demand for an established product while investing in designs whose reception was less certain. Rodiou distinguishes those pieces from staples that can return across seasons. She wants customers to discover what comes next.

According to the company, Aya Muse has grown primarily through wholesale rather than relying on paid direct-to-consumer growth. It now works with approximately 65 retailers worldwide, alongside seasonal and specialty accounts. Partners include Mytheresa, FWRD, Revolve, Bloomingdale’s and Selfridges.

“In fashion, I believe there is an important distinction between simply increasing distribution and building meaningful distribution,” Rodiou says. She weighs a retailer’s customer, aesthetic and positioning alongside its commercial potential.

A 2023 Vogue Business story on fashion founders building businesses after the DTC boom explored how wholesale and organic audience-building offered alternatives to expansion fueled by venture capital and paid advertising. Aya Muse was among the brands featured.

“Consumer brands rarely grow in a straight line,” Tom March, founder and managing partner of investment firm Redrice, told Vogue Business.

For Aya Muse, the next opportunities include Asia, where the company reports increased demand over the past year, particularly in China. Further retail and market expansion is anticipated in the coming seasons. Its unisex offering and knit bags also broaden the business.

The challenge is maintaining a recognizable identity as more customers encounter the brand through more products and retailers.

Rodiou’s approach to longevity also informs production. The company says it works with manufacturing partners in countries including Portugal, Romania and China, and considers materials, sourcing and quantities as part of its sustainability efforts. Her emphasis is on making pieces customers will retain and being deliberate about how much the business produces.

The same thinking shapes design. Rather than starting with trend forecasts, she says the team discusses what feels missing from their own wardrobes, drawing inspiration from vintage pieces, proportions and color.

Instinct plays a role, but so do numbers. Rodiou studies why an everyday T-shirt might outperform a cutout dress that was successful two years earlier, using that data to understand how customers are evolving.

The founder lesson lies in those repeated decisions: when to extend a successful idea, when to introduce something unfamiliar, and when to let a product have its moment.

Aya Muse’s evolution has required Rodiou to keep deciding what deserves to come next.

“Ultimately, our approach has been to grow the business without allowing the business to dictate the identity of the brand,” she says.