MEET PHIA: THE FREE AI SHOPPING TOOL THAT INSTANTLY FINDS YOU THE BEST PRICE ON FASHION, FOUNDED BY PHOEBE GATES AND SOPHIA KIANNI

The Free Shopping Tool, Phia, is now available on iOS and Chrome

NEW YORK, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Co-founders Sophia Kianni and Phoebe Gates have announced the launch of Phia, a free iOS app and mobile browser extension that finds you the best prices on fashion while you shop. The Phia shopping tool instantly compares new and secondhand prices for the item you're viewing, saving you time and money with one click.

While browsing on Safari, tap the "Should I Buy This?" button on the Phia browser extension to get an instant price check, powered by Phia's database of 250 million secondhand items. Available on over 40,000 shopping sites, Phia shows whether the price of an item is high, typical, or fair. If an item is overpriced, Phia instantly surfaces better-priced exact matches and similar alternatives. For those who prefer shopping on their computer desktop, Phia also has a free Chrome Extension available for download.

Gates and Kianni, co-founders and co-CEOs, developed the concept for Phia while roommates at Stanford University. Both passionate about fashion, they were frustrated by how hard it was to find the right item at the best price—endless scrolling, searching, and comparing across dozens of secondhand sites. They realized traditional e-commerce hadn't evolved in years and set out to create a more personalized, efficient shopping assistant with AI. Their goal is to build a smarter way to shop—one that saves people time and money while promoting sustainability, transparency, and pushing the industry forward.

"We, like so many consumers, want to shop smarter and make the most of our money," says Kianni. "Great secondhand options exist, but they're scattered across hundreds of websites—and no one has time to search them all. Our patented model solves that pain point by delivering instant price insights and better options to help customers make smarter, faster decisions with their money."

Phia's tech was built in-house by a team of engineers with backgrounds at leading companies including Pinterest, Millennium, Meta, and Amazon. The platform aggregates data from top resale partners like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, ThredUp, StockX, eBay, and Poshmark. From Louis Vuitton to Nike, Phia works across all brands—personalizing results based on your size, preferences, and shopping behavior to help you find the best deal every time. You can also favorite items, build collections, and find results from every secondhand site—all in the Phia app.

HOW IT WORKS:

1. Download Phia for free from the iOS App Store.
2. Using the app, easily add the mobile browser extension to Safari.
3. While shopping on Safari, tap the "Should I Buy This?" button.
4. Phia immediately compares the item you're viewing to real-time prices from 40,000 retail and secondhand sites.
5. If the item is overpriced, Phia instantly finds you cheaper alternatives

"For all its growth, eCommerce hasn't meaningfully evolved to reflect how consumers actually make decisions," says Gates. "Shoppers are navigating an overwhelming number of options across retail and resale, often without the tools to confidently assess value. With Phia, we've built an AI-powered platform that brings clarity to that process—personalizing insights in real time so users can make smarter decisions instantly. It's about delivering the right answer, at the right moment, in just one click."

About Phia
Phia is the first and only tool that instantly compares fashion across both primary retail and secondhand sites to help you find the best price in one click—no extra tabs, no ads, no extra searching. Phia uses artificial intelligence and a patented technology to scan real-time data across a database of 250 million products from over 40,000 retail and resale sites to show consumers whether an item is high, low, or typically priced. Download Phia for free in the iOS App Store or add the Safari mobile browser extension or Chrome desktop extension.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Phia