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. Follow Sammi on Instagram here Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter here Learn more about Phia here Listen to The Burnouts here 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 All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. *APY as of 6/30/25, offered by Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Rate subject to change. See terms of IRA Match Program here: public.com/disclosures/ira-match. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices