Operated by Stefanos Ierodiaconou (Founder & CEO), Dino Kouyialis (Creative Director), Elina Smyrniou (Operations Manager), the brand has become one of the most recognisable names in Cyprus’ new creative generation, blending streetwear, sport, outdoor culture and island identity into a visual language that resonates far beyond the Mediterranean.
In this conversation, Kouyialis reflects on Cyprus not as a backdrop, but as a psychological landscape: a place of contradiction, improvisation, tension and emotional intensity that continues to shape the DNA of AcePlayMore.
“Cyprus teaches you contradiction”
For Kouyialis, Cyprus is not simply where the brand was founded. It is the force that shaped the way the team thinks, designs and takes risks.
“Cyprus teaches you contradiction,” he says. “It’s small, but emotionally enormous. It’s warm, but historically heavy. It’s isolated, yet always at a crossroads.” Growing up on the island, he explains, means learning how to improvise creatively because access to resources, infrastructure and opportunities is often limited.
“You don’t have access to everything, so you create with what you have. That forces resourcefulness.” That resourcefulness became embedded into the visual identity of AcePlayMore itself. Its loud colours, graphic confidence and refusal to conform to a restrained European aesthetic all emerge from what Kouyialis calls the island’s “visual chaos”. “Bougainvillea next to military zones. Blue shutters against dust. Neon signs in sleepy villages.”
Even risk carries a different emotional weight in Cyprus, he notes. “Risk here isn’t romantic. It’s personal. If something fails, everyone knows.” That visibility, however, became part of the brand’s philosophy rather than something to fear. “When we take risks with loud graphics or unexpected drops, it’s not for trend. It’s because Cyprus teaches you that identity matters more than approval.”
Frustration As Creative Fuel
While Cyprus can often feel intimate and supportive, Kouyialis admits it is the island’s frustrations that push creativity forward. “The frustration,” he says with a smile. “Intimacy comforts you. Frustration sharpens you.”
For him, creating in a small market with slow systems and limited infrastructure leaves creatives with only two options: adapt quietly or build something impossible to ignore. “ACEPLAYMORE was born from that tension. From wanting to prove that you can create something globally relevant without leaving the island.”
That stubbornness, he believes, is one of Cyprus’ most underestimated qualities. “You don’t wait for validation from Paris or London. You make the thing anyway.”
Beyond The Postcard Version Of Cyprus
Asked what someone would understand about Cyprus purely through experiencing AcePlayMore, Kouyialis avoids tourist imagery altogether. “They would understand the energy,” he says. “Not the tourist Cyprus. Not the postcard Cyprus.”
Instead, he describes a generation raised between contradictions: beach life and basketball courts, military service and surf dreams, tradition and digital culture. “The Cyprus that is proud, slightly rebellious, and deeply emotional.” At the heart of the brand lies what he calls the “Islander” mentality. “Being an Islander is not a limitation. It’s a mindset.”
Growing up surrounded by the horizon creates a paradoxical psychology, he explains. The island may be geographically small, but mentally expansive. “You’re physically small, but mentally outward. That tension lives inside every ACEPLAYMORE piece.”
“Play Is Resistance”
The philosophy behind the brand’s name extends far beyond fashion branding. For Kouyialis, “play” has become an act of resistance in modern Cypriot culture. “In a culture that values seriousness, family duty, stability, choosing to play is choosing aliveness.”
He is quick to clarify that “Play More” does not mean refusing adulthood or responsibility. “It doesn’t mean childishness. It means feeling childish, which is very different.” Instead, it represents curiosity, openness, experimentation and emotional movement. “It means keeping the wonder and imagination of a child.”
In many ways, he argues, this emotional intensity is deeply Cypriot. “We are loud, competitive, emotional people. We argue intensely and then hug intensely. That’s play too.”
Designing The Island Without Saying Its Name
Although AcePlayMore rarely references Cyprus explicitly, Kouyialis believes the island exists inside every collection. “The ‘Islander’ identity,” he says immediately when asked which project feels most rooted in Cyprus. “The confidence in bold block letters. The warmth in colour palettes. The outdoor functionality. The refusal to look overly polished.”
Even recent winter collections, featuring hoodies, fleeces and windbreakers, remain tied to the island’s geography beyond the expected summer imagery. “Cyprus isn’t just summer. It’s mountains, Troodos mornings, cold stone houses, wind from the sea.” That duality between urban and outdoor life became central to the brand’s design language. “We design for real life here. Urban and outdoor simultaneously. That hybridity is Cyprus.”
Building Without Infrastructure
One of the biggest misconceptions outsiders have, Kouyialis says, is assuming that building a brand in Cyprus is easier because of the island’s size. “It’s actually harder.” Limited manufacturing, limited infrastructure and limited support systems mean local creatives often have to construct their own ecosystems from scratch. “You fight for suppliers. You fight for exposure. You fight to be taken seriously.”
Yet that pressure produces resilience. “If you can survive here creatively and commercially, you’re not fragile. In fact, you can make it anywhere.”
Thinking Globally Without Losing The Accent
AcePlayMore openly draws inspiration from global culture, from sport and music to streetwear and design, but Kouyialis insists the key is filtering those influences through a distinctly Mediterranean perspective. “We don’t imitate London or LA. We ask: how does this feel under the Mediterranean sun?” Remaining grounded locally while thinking internationally comes down to identity rather than geography.
“Being grounded means knowing who you are. Thinking outward means being curious without losing your accent.” The brand continues to collaborate locally and shoot campaigns across Cyprus’ mountains, coastlines and open landscapes, while maintaining an outward-looking digital mindset.
“Geography doesn’t control imagination anymore.”
“They Made It Normal To Be Bold From Here”
Looking ahead ten years, Kouyialis hopes AcePlayMore’s legacy within Cyprus’ creative landscape will not simply be commercial success, but cultural permission. “I would want people to say: ‘They made it normal to be bold from here.’”
Not bold through arrogance, he stresses, but through confidence in identity. “That we showed younger creatives that you don’t need to dilute your voice to belong.”
For Kouyialis, the deeper mission behind AcePlayMore is proving that Cyprus can function as a starting point rather than a creative limitation. “If ACEPLAYMORE becomes anything, and I am pretty sure it will, I hope it becomes proof. Proof that the island is not a footnote. It’s a starting point.”
“And starting points matter.”
