The fashion industry is facing a reckoning—from how clothes are made to how they’re resold. And Phia, a new tech-driven platform, is betting that the future of shopping is secondhand, smarter, and more sustainable.
In this episode, Sammi sits down with Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni to talk about how they went from brainstorming ideas in their Stanford dorm room to building a company that’s rethinking retail. They share how Phia uses tech to track price drops and spotlight resale options, why they’re betting on browser extensions and Gen Z, and how their backgrounds have helped them build a mission-driven brand from the ground up.
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Here’s what Sammi covers with Phoebe & Sophia:
00:00 Phoebe & Sophia’s Social Currency
01:51 The Phia Origin Story
07:18 Dropping Out of Stanford and Betting on Themselves
09:38 Building a Team and Advice from Bill Gates
14:48 How the Phia App Makes Secondhand Shopping Easy
25:23 Why Secondhand Isn’t Second-Rate
28:26 Gen Z’s Take on Sustainability
29:20 How Phia Reaches Shoppers Where They Already Are
30:11 The Resale Value Factor
31:07 Who They're Building Phia For
34:12 Lessons from Investors and Advisors
35:42 How Their Podcast The Burnouts on Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network Ties into Their Brand
37:32 Radical Transparency and Listening to Your Customer
44:41 How They Manage Their Time
47:18 What’s Next for the Future of Shopping
48:54 Whose Closet They’d Raid Tomorrow
50:02 How to Show Social Currency Some Love
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