Is Phia, the Shopping App Co-Founded by Bill Gates's Daughter, Ripping Off This Competitor?
Plus: Private clubs scouting Palm Beach real estate, Bank of America spending $250 million a year on GLP-1 drugs, a power couple separating but keeping their business empire intact, and more.
Wardrobe apps are generally not my thing. (I barely trust Gmail enough to let it organize my own inbox, let alone an app to pick out my clothes.) But last week, a friend who is very much the target demographic reached out in disbelief: “Have you seen Phia’s new digital closet feature? I swear it looks exactly like Vêtir….”
She wasn’t wrong. Just a day after Phia—the AI shopping agent co-founded by Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe—unveiled its new closet feature, Vêtir (French for “to dress”) posted a pointed message to Instagram: “Imitation may be the highest form of flattery...” with a reminder that it “invented the AI digital closet.” The company never mentioned Phia by name, but it was obvious it had raised a significant number of eyebrows. So, RPS decided to look into it a little more. After all, Phia has already had a busy summer. In July, Bloomberg reported that the startup had been taking credit—and affiliate commissions—for purchases it allegedly never influenced. Independent affiliate researcher Ben Edelman went further, publishing technical findings that he said showed Phia’s app had been overriding other creators’ affiliate links in the background, a practice commonly referred to as “cookie stuffing.” Within 48 hours of Bloomberg’s story, affiliate platform Impact suspended Phia’s account.
The company has also drawn criticism for its marketing rollout, including the use of AI-generated creator personas that many users initially believed were real people. Some users have also accused Phia of taking a little too much inspiration from the wishlist app Locker, described as the “Pinterest for online shopping.” Taken together, Phia has developed something of a reputation for…Let’s call it pushing boundaries in pursuit of growth. So this copycat-closet-app question is worth a discussion. More on that after the jump.
For those of you who couldn't care less about a nepo-baby's wardrobe app (fair enough, although Phia has now raised $43.5 million from what looks more like a Vanity Fair Oscar party guest list than a cap table), there are plenty of other things to talk about today: some interesting factoids about private clubs scouting Palm Beach real estate, Bank of America spending $250 million a year on GLP-1 drugs, Vogue World headed to San Francisco in 2027, star memoir editor Whitney Frick, a power couple separating but keeping their business empire intact, wealthy Californians are flocking to New Zealand's golden visa program, and more.
And I know the plan was to roll out a new section, The Ledger of Good Decisions, this week, but I’m still tinkering with the design. That will have to wait till next time. Keep sending suggestions!
