The style trade is the world’s second largest producer of greenhouse gases and environmental pollution, behind solely the oil and fuel trade. It’s additionally rife with waste and extra, having already produced sufficient attire to dress the following six generations.
Now, two current Stanford graduates try to make vogue extra sustainable by bettering the secondhand buying expertise.
On Thursday, Phoebe Gates, 22, and Sophia Kianni, 23, launched Phia, an app and desktop software that aggregates secondhand and retail buying choices from throughout the web.
“It’s like ‘Google Flights’ for fashion,” Kianni informed me. “Phia finds you the best price in one click … and allows you to really easily price compare.”
She added, “How do you know that you’re not getting scammed? How do you know it’s actually the best price possible? We built the tool that we wish had existed back when we were in college,”
Whereas the pair solely lately graduated from Stanford, they have already got extra accolades than many individuals twice their age. Kianni is founding father of the world’s largest youth-led local weather nonprofit, Local weather Cardinals, and is the youngest United Nations advisor. Gates interned at British Vogue and has turn into a notable voice in reproductive rights — talking at occasions comparable to World Citizen and being named the Reproductive Freedom for All’s Champion of the Yr final yr. She can be the daughter of Invoice and Melinda Gates.
Whereas Phia is their first precedence — they had been up with their workforce till 3 a.m. figuring out bugs the evening earlier than our interview — they’re not simply making an attempt to alter the best way folks store, they’re additionally making an attempt to be extra clear in regards to the founder expertise.
In early April, they launched “The Burnouts,” a podcast on “Call Her Daddy” founder Alex Cooper’s Unwell Community that chronicles their entrepreneurial experiences.
“We really felt that there was a huge white space in the market … When you look at Founder Podcasts, it’s always experts who’ve sold their companies, who’ve achieved all this,” Gates informed me. “But I wanted someone who was just starting out, who was a noob, asking all the questions that everyone else felt were too dumb to ask.”
She added, “One thing for us that’s been really important is shedding some light on what the founder experience is actually like.”
Listening to episodes of “The Burnouts” (a title many people can relate to) is much less “How I Built This” and extra how on the earth do I construct this?!
Within the first episode, Gates and Kianni inform visitor Kris Jenner about a few of their failed enterprise concepts, together with a bluetooth tampon, and a few of their hacks, comparable to making a pretend assistant to provide them extra credibility.
Whereas the podcast reveals the challenges and realities of beginning one thing new, it’s additionally been launched on a platform with over 34 million listeners — lots of whom are younger girls in Phia’s goal demographic. Speaking about themselves is sweet promotion for the style app.
“A really critical piece of marketing is this founder-led growth and pulling back the curtain on what it’s like to be a founder and to learn,” Gates stated.
Understanding what they’re finest suited to, has been key.
“We had all these ideas in these different industries that are fascinating, but it really was this question of are we the right people to build this thing? I remember one thing we discussed was electric cruise ships for shipping … But are we the right people to build that?,” Gates stated.
She added, “This entire industry of fashion tech is fascinating to me. Women are spending a huge amount of money on shopping, and the fact we’re not delivering a personalized experience to them that’s good for their wallets and the world is crazy to me.”
Whereas Gates has nothing however appreciation for her household, she is targeted on making her personal identify within the tech world — and much more keen to speak about her personal work than her household’s.
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When elevating funding for Phia, she didn’t look to her dad and mom. (The cap desk is personal, however Kris Jenner revealed she is on it).
“We don’t want this to be something that’s funded by my family — we want this to be a real company,” Gates informed me. “That’s really important for us … while I have a ton of privilege coming from my family, it’s about having a product that stands on its own.”
Rising up, it was at all times clear that she would make her personal manner.
“Seeing the example that my parents led with the foundation and their own work has been an incredible example to me,” she stated. “There was never an expectation that we were gonna not work the rest of our lives.”
Earlier this month, her father very pointedly stated that he isn’t making an attempt to show his household right into a dynasty. Maybe that’s the reason Gates and Kianni are searching for to construct theirs.
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