Phoebe Gates & Sophia Kianni (Phia) on Disrupting Fashion, Rethinking Retail, and Building a Business That’s Good for the Planet

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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