Phia’s AI shopping tool levels the playing field while Alexa Chung’s Vinted collection and Vestiaire Collective’s activist campaigns are fueling secondhand fashion’s explosive growth.
Phia’s debut in the AI-powered shopping landscape marks a pivotal moment for fashion consumers prioritizing value and sustainability. Co-founded by Phoebe Gates — Bill and Melinda Gates’ daughter — and her former roommate Sophia Kianni, Phia is an app and Chrome extension that analyzes product prices and instantly compares them to secondhand options from across the internet. Shoppers who install Phia see a “Should I Buy This?” button on product pages.
Testing the platform with a Louis Vuitton Graceful PM bag, Phia flagged the $1,950 retail price as justified and surfaced pre-owned versions starting at $1,453. It also linked to additional, more affordable secondhand bags for easy comparison. According to The Verge, Phia “uses AI to analyze ‘current market trends’ and compare them against a database of more than 250 million used goods from sites like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, ThredUp, StockX, eBay, and Poshmark.”
Phia distinguishes itself from other shopping extensions like Capital One Shopping, Rakuten, and Honey by focusing specifically on fashion and emphasizing the value of secondhand options. While other platforms automatically apply coupon codes and search for discounts, Phia positions itself at the intersection of technology and thrift, prioritizing the growing consumer interest in resale. The app arrives as the global secondhand apparel market accelerates: ThredUp’s 2024 Resale Report forecasts the worldwide secondhand market will reach $350 billion by 2028, with the U.S. resale apparel market projected to more than double during that time.
Consumer interest in secondhand is being driven by inflation, tariffs, climate concerns, and the pursuit of unique, story-rich garments. Celebrity closets are helping drive that shift. Also this week, Alexa Chung, a longstanding icon of British style and an advocate for vintage fashion, announced she will make her personal collection available on Vinted, Europe’s secondhand marketplace. Launching May 4, 2025, Chung’s selection includes contemporary designer pieces as well as vintage treasures. Shoppers will find items from Prada, JW Anderson, Saint Laurent, and Gucci among the assortment of tops, bags, sunglasses, and shoes. The collection is further elevated by unique vintage pieces, such as a 1930s coral silk dress worn by Chung at Paris Fashion Week.
All sales proceeds will benefit Endometriosis UK, a charity selected by Chung. She describes her connection to secondhand clothing in romantic terms: “I think there’s something so romantic about connecting to another era through what we wear.” Her approach to fashion is rooted in the idea that garments can carry new meaning and attitude in different hands. “The idea that you can repurpose and bring a new attitude to something that was made for another time and another context, I find the concept of trends coming back around and evolving each time weirdly comforting amidst the current chaos.” Chung’s own style has evolved over years of collecting vintage, and the pieces now being sold represent an eclectic, personal archive. Notable items include a diamanté-embroidered Miu Miu bralette and a Barbie pink Gucci shoulder bag.
Chung shares, “The Dries Van Noten silver trainers are very hard to say goodbye to, as are the Saint Laurent patent black flats, which go with so many different things.” The decision to part with beloved pieces is not without its challenges. “I’m also selling a pink Gucci bag, which I already slightly regret,” she said. “But I am doing the clear-out with Vinted because my style is evolving.” Chung says she views the process as part of fashion’s natural cycle: “These items carry so many memories and we had great times together but now it is time to kiss them goodbye.”
For Chung, the appeal of vintage lies in its ability to inject playfulness and surprise into everyday style. “I love the magic and rush of unearthing something unexpected that might knock your comfortable style out of its regular lane slightly,” she said. “Vintage fashion has the ability to breathe new life into your wardrobe because it brings with it an inherent playfulness.” The prospect of her garments living on in other wardrobes appeals to her sense of fashion as a living, evolving story: “The idea that they can live on in someone else’s wardrobe and be new again to them is very appealing.”
As Phia and Chung spotlight secondhand fashion’s desirability, Vestiaire Collective issued a striking call for industry-wide change. For Earth Day, the French resale platform launched a campaign showing piles of discarded clothing blocking the front doors of apartments in Paris, New York, and London. The campaign is a visual alarm about the overconsumption of clothing worldwide. “In 2024, the European Union received 4.6 billion parcels shipped by fast-fashion companies,” the company stated in a press release.
Dounia Wone, chief impact officer at Vestiaire Collective, made the company’s stance clear. “Fast fashion is no longer invisible, it is outside our front door. This global crisis demands immediate action, and the system must be rebuilt from the ground up,” she said. “Real change begins with challenging the status quo and facing the consequences of overproduction. We are committed to this mission and hold all stakeholders accountable.” Vestiaire Collective’s approach includes direct actions to reshape the industry, such as banning several fast-fashion brands from its catalog in 2023. The campaign follows earlier initiatives, such as placing heaps of used clothes on famous beaches and in major global cities to illustrate the scope of the issue.
Education is central to Vestiaire Collective’s mission. The retailer has partnered with five influencers to run a six-month educational program, reaching more than two million people and including workshops, mentoring sessions, and an upcoming educational trip with influencers and media. The goal: highlight the need for systemic change in how fashion is produced and consumed. Vestiaire Collective, founded in 2009, now boasts five million pre-owned luxury and high-end items across seventy countries. In early 2024, it raised €59 million ahead of a stock market listing, underscoring the market’s momentum and investor confidence in secondhand’s future.
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