But Ashley had more resources than most students, so she employed a factory in Los Angeles to work with her and create what she had in mind.
It took a year and a half, on and off, but eventually she and her twin sister, Mary-Kate, got something they felt was right not only for their petite frames, but also on all the other women of various ages and sizes they tried it on.
The secret, they say, is the French seam running down the back. 'It's cut from one piece of fabric,' explains Ashley, who is the older by a few minutes, and tends to take the lead when discussing business. 'It's about the drape and the fabric. And finding the balance between the two.'
'It's made on a lingerie machine,' adds Mary-Kate, fingering the silky, diaphanous sample that is hanging on a rail behind us. 'A lot of thought has to go into it.'
Having put in so much effort, they decided to try to sell this T-shirt, and came up with the concept of The Row, a high-end, luxury clothing label based in New York, manufactured mainly in America but also in Italy, and named to evoke the kind of quality tailoring and fit synonymous with London's Savile Row.
Ashley Olsen: She wears it well
'I did feel there was a need for luxurious basics, to wear with couture,' explains Ashley, who at just over 5ft 1in is slightly taller than her sister. 'When you're small like I am, you need things to break it up, or not look like you're in the full look. So it started with that concept, and just kind of grew from there. It's pieces that we feel are missing, or that we want. We make the best quality, things that we would shop for, that we appreciate and find beautiful.'
On paper, the past few years haven't been the best time to launch a luxury label. But despite the high-end prices - that basic T-shirt sells for £195 on Net-a-Porter, a camel wool coat is nearly £2,000, with a pretty lace shirt at £995 and dresses for £1,500 and upwards - since its launch in 2006 The Row has grown quietly, organically, into a force to be reckoned with.
Last month it was shortlisted for the New Talent award at America's prestigious CFDA Fashion Awards, and in April the label had a major feature in US Vogue and also received the endorsement of First Lady Michelle Obama, who wore its pleated skirt for an appearance on television.
The Row appeals to a clientele that is, on the whole, older than its 25-year-old designers: working women who are willing to spend money on quality, but don't necessarily want to shout about it with loud logos. With understated, classic pieces that fit beautifully, feel good against the skin and won't look dated after one season's wear, it has thrived through the recession, building a loyal following of repeat customers.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen head to Honduras for Tom
'It's not fast fashion,' Mary-Kate confirms. 'We pay so much attention to the fit and the quality and the details.'
And having started, it seems they couldn't stop. Soon after starting The Row, the sisters launched the more bohemian, West Coast-styled label Elizabeth and James (named after their younger sister and older brother), aimed at a slightly younger, edgier customer. For a more casual, weekend look there is now also Elizabeth and James Textile, and they are reaching out to the mass market with Olsenboye, a competitively priced line for teens created in partnership with the US chain JC Penney.
On the afternoon I meet the Olsens in the bustling Manhattan office that they are already outgrowing, Josh Berman, one of the founders of MySpace, is also visiting. He runs the e-commerce site that is partnering the Olsens on their latest venture, StyleMint, where users answer an online quiz to determine their style profile, and are then emailed suggestions of Olsen-designed T-shirts, which they can buy for $29.99 apiece. That would be just under £19 if you could buy from outside the USA, which as yet you can't - although the Olsens are hoping to bring both this and Olsenboye to the British market, as well as expanding their outlets for their more upmarket brands here.
To have an operation of this size is quite an achievement at the age of 25, especially when you consider the twins were also at college while they were establishing it. But then Ashley and Mary-Kate did launch their first mass-market fashion label - a partnership with the retail giant Wal-Mart - when they were 12. They have worked steadily since they were nine months old, they point out matter-of-factly, and have always gone to school as well, so combining business with their studies at New York University was nothing new. 'It takes a lot of discipline,' Mary-Kate says. 'But we've always been very driven, and we enjoy what we do. It's what we know.'
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen go digital with new fashion venture
The Olsens started their professional lives almost by accident. Twins are in demand in the television and film industries because the number of hours youngsters can spend in front of the cameras is strictly regulated: having two children able to play the same character doubles the amount of shooting time. At a friend's suggestion, the twins' mother, Jarnette, took them to an audition for a saccharine new TV sitcom called Full House, and because they were the quietest babies when handled, they were chosen to share the role of Michelle Tanner, the youngest of three girls being raised by three men. It was a hit, and as the sisters grew into cute-looking toddlers, they stole the show and stayed on for its entire eight-year run.
Living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, David Olsen, an estate agent, and Jarnette, a full-time mother, were far from pushy stage parents. 'They never forced anything on us,' Ashley says. 'And it's not like we were going on auditions or anything. Everything was just a natural progression - I mean, not natural, but… natural to us.'
'There was no hunger, never a goal to get into anything,' Mary-Kate adds. 'It was just part of our life, we never knew anything else. Work, school, then after-school activities - the basketball team, soccer, volleyball.'
But the Olsens did get good legal advice, and set up a company, Dualstar, to protect the girls' interests, wisely keeping copyright on almost everything they did. By the age of six, the girls were getting production credits on their spin-off films. They went on to make more than 50 of these, most of them shot in a couple of weeks during school holidays in places they wanted to visit - Paris, Rome, Hawaii - and sold straight to their loyal fan-base on video and later DVD.
They fronted two further TV series after Full House, recorded 10 pop albums, published millions of books based on their film characters' adventures, and had merchandising including dolls that were second only to Barbie in terms of US sales. Pretty, perky, with huge blue-green eyes and sun-kissed blond hair, the sisters connected with the emerging - and, as it turned out, lucrative - tween market worldwide. They weren't only actors, or even a marketing phenomenon. They were a brand, and at one point Dualstar was reported to have a turnover of more than $1 billion.
From the start, the sisters sat in on meetings, learning the language of partnerships, synergy and branding. 'We were always involved in the conversation,' Mary-Kate says. 'We worked so much that they wanted to make sure that we knew exactly what was happening and why - and our opinions mattered.'
Fashion was always a big part of their working lives. With few labels then producing childrenswear, they often had adult clothes from labels such as Chanel cut down to fit. 'We loved it!' Ashley says. 'We'd go through racks and racks of clothes, and hours of fittings. When you cut something down that small, it has to be precise. So we've always been really interested in fit. And over the years we've become more educated in fabrics and make, and appreciating those small details. That's where we start from now, always - what feels right.'
They say they have sketched clothes they wanted, and had them made up, 'since we could draw'. When they were 14 and filming in Rome, for instance, they both drew leather jackets and had them made to order by Italian craftsmen. So, when they launched the tween fashion line with Wal-Mart, they were involved from the start, choosing fabrics and making suggestions. 'There weren't really celebrity fashion brands at the time,' Ashley observes. 'And we were very young, but it was definitely a reflection of our own style.'
When they were 18, Ashley and Mary-Kate took full control of Dualstar, went off to college in New York, and began to show themselves to be sophisticated young women with impeccable taste and interests in architecture, contemporary art and photography. In their glossy 2008 coffee table book Influence, for instance, they interviewed cutting-edge creatives from John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld to the photographer Terry Richardson and the artists Richard Prince and George Condo. They were well-travelled, they point out, and when filming overseas time was always made to take them to galleries and cultural events.
But this new maturity wasn't what was expected of them, and the American tabloids liked to photograph them going to college, coming out of coffee shops and - the horror! - frequenting clubs or bars, labelling their layered, funky mix of designer and vintage clothes as 'trashcan chic' and speculating that their lives were falling apart as all child stars' are supposed to. For the sisters, however, this was a time of reassessment, and Ashley says it was less about going off the rails than changing track completely.
'It was about taking a step back and reflecting on our past, all the things that we'd learnt, then deciding how we take all the knowledge that we have from the range of businesses that we've been in, and do it the way that we want to do it.'
Their last film was New York Minute in 2004, which failed to set the box office alight. By then, Ashley especially knew her heart wasn't in it. They have since taken a few drama classes, just to gain a fresh perspective, and Mary-Kate played a handful of cameo roles in an indie film and on television before deciding to concentrate on the fashion empire. If they ever go back to that world, she says, it is likely to be as producers. Now it is their little sister, Elizabeth, who is gaining kudos as an actor: 'We're so proud of her!' Mary-Kate says. 'She's working really hard.'
When launching The Row, they made a conscious choice not to use their names to sell it. 'We didn't want people to know that we were behind it,' Ashley says, adding that for a while they even considered hiring a front man. 'We'd learnt so much about building brands and talking to a specific customer. We did it with our faces at the beginning, and we knew we didn't want to do that any more. It's far more fun this way.'
Ashley and Mary-Kate have never stopped being famous. Their films are still enjoyed by tweenage girls, and in a multi-channel world where dead sitcoms enjoy a seemingly eternal afterlife of re-runs, even Full House is still showing on American TV. 'Four- and five-year-old kids come up to us and they're like, "I don't understand, because you're so big now, and I watch you on Full House and you're a baby!"' Ashley laughs.
But it is not something either of them feels comfortable with, and they choose to live in New York rather than LA now, because it gives them anonymity. With every relationship they have subjected to forensic scrutiny, they drily say it is no wonder they are both single. They don't go out a lot, and the only red-carpet events they attend are fashion shows.
'It got out of hand, and I think it still is out of hand - the way people are handled,' says Ashley, who says she feels vulnerable, with her tiny build, walking down the street surrounded by big men with cameras. 'I just feel the only way that I could understand it would be if I stepped really far back from it. We've now been dealing with that for 25 years. And when you think about how much it's changed… We've been a part of that evolution.'
They do, however, find it funny when the media fails to tell them apart. They are fraternal twins, and although they still look similar there are clear differences. Ashley is the one with the huge, doll-like blue-green eyes, the perkier speaking voice and the more classically chic style, dressed the day we met in a shift dress from The Row and an oversized sweater.
Mary-Kate reminds me a lot of Kate Moss at that age: she is slightly edgier, more rock'n'roll in her style, with a huskier voice and fingers laden with gorgeous oversized vintage rings. Yet when I wonder if it is annoying to be still talked of as a single unit, they look horrified. 'But we are a unit!' Mary-Kate says, leaning in towards her sister. Though they have lived in separate apartments since they were
19 and take separate holidays, she adds, 'We still probably spend more time together than we're apart. The only time we really don't see each other is when we're sleeping, I guess.' There are arguments, sometimes. 'Usually when we're both saying the exact same thing, but we're coming at it from different sides,' Ashley says. But they can't imagine a time when they won't work together. 'We both have the same goals.'
I ask where they see themselves in 10 years' time, and they say they really don't think that way. 'My answers are always sarcastic to this,' Mary-Kate laughs. 'I always say taller.'
But they do have plans, lots of plans. They want to be a luxury lifestyle brand, selling globally. They are about to launch handbags for The Row, and then for Elizabeth & James. They want to do shoes for The Row, and although they have temporarily shelved a foray into menswear for the label, they plan to revisit it later. And eventually they will open their own stores. 'When the time is right, we definitely want some sort of home where we display it the way we want to,' Mary-Kate says.
Towards the end of our time together, Mary-Kate slips out for a cigarette and I ask Ashley to talk me through the samples from The Row's autumn/winter collection made in their small atelier upstairs. She starts with the bias-cut dresses, a perfect pea coat, a gorgeous white jacket, and I nod dutifully until she realises I'm just not getting it.
'You have to feel it, really,' she instructs, and suddenly my hands are brushing trousers in fine wool fabrics that would not so much cover your legs as caress them, butter-soft leather jackets, and my head is telling me how much I really, really want this stuff. There is a robe in a nice shade of blue, the sort of thing you would throw on at the beach or while lounging at home without looking at all ostentatious. But touch it and you realise it's made of a superfine cashmere and silk mix you could live in for ever, and Ashley says that's one of the items they made very much with themselves in mind.
I'm still admiring it when Mary-Kate returns, and as we settle back down to talk, she slips off her vintage leather jacket and snuggles into the robe instead. 'My favourite!' she grins.
Perhaps, in the end, this personal touch and taste is the key to The Row's success. There are still only a handful of women working at this level in fashion, and fewer still who have packed the experience the Olsens have into their 25 years. They have, Mary-Kate says wearily at one point, already had a few lifetimes. And although this should be a story that is over, meeting these extraordinary young women, you realise it has only just begun.
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