New York is getting a taste of the "day in the life" viral routine, as digital-first fashion and lifestyle brand Phe Phe takes over the heart of SoHo. Less than a year after making their official foray into the fashion industry with the launch of their brand, famed influencer sisters Brigette McHale and Danielle Pheloung are officially opening the doors to their very first physical retail pop-up store.
Created in strategic partnership with Shopify, the immersive brick-and-mortar retail space is designed to bring customers well beyond the screen. The store takes visitors step-by-step through a realistic, tactile interpretation of a day in the life of the founders. The architectural layout features distinct interactive zones, including a dedicated "get ready with me" corner, an office quadrant, a fully realized gym setting, and a functioning coffee bar.
For followers of the entrepreneurial duo, the spatial journey will feel instantly familiar. The store map carefully follows a cadence similar to the daily vlogs the sisters have shared on TikTok over the years. This includes nostalgic nods to the period when Danielle was still clocking long hours at investment banking firm Goldman Sachs—sharing her viral "5 to 9 before 9 to 5" morning routines—while Brigette was simultaneously pursuing fashion and lifestyle content creation full-time, building lucrative brand partnerships with industry giants like L’Oréal, Amazon, and Tarte.
That unique lifestyle blueprint, bridging corporate realities and creative content creation, continues to serve as the bedrock for the Phe Phe business strategy today. Speaking about the brand’s rapid trajectory, Pheloung explained to WWD that Phe Phe was always conceived as a natural extension of themselves, their daily habits, and their broader digital community. McHale added that this authentic alignment is precisely why the brand has been able to scale so rapidly and elicit such an overwhelmingly positive reaction from consumers, noting that the brand simply feels like a genuine part of who they are.
Alongside the grand opening of the SoHo activation, the brand is debuting its latest expansive seasonal collections, which are split cleanly between polished workwear and performance-driven activewear. The sophisticated workwear assortment introduces versatile silhouettes designed for the modern professional, featuring items such as double-breasted vests, the signature Danielle blazer, tailored maxiskirts, Danielle trousers, high-neck blazer dresses, ruffle tops, and trouser mini shorts. Pricing for the tailored workwear edit ranges from $78 to $198.
Meanwhile, the brand’s studio and activewear edit caters to the fitness and leisure side of the sisters’ lifestyle content, offering functional yet trendy pieces such as halter tops, halter bras, low-rise pants, gym shorts, fashionable shrugs, and cozy fleece half-zips. Prices for the activewear and studio pieces start at an accessible $45 and cap out at $98.
In tandem with the apparel drops, the retail experience coincides with the formal launch of new lifestyle and beauty accessories. This includes newly introduced branded claw clips retailing for $20, the debut of the "Bombshell brush" priced at $30, and a much-anticipated restock of the brand’s bestselling hair roller set, which retails for $45.
The introduction of beauty products into the product mix is a calculated evolution for the brand, according to McHale. She noted that expanding into beauty felt like the most logical next step following the initial success of their apparel launches. Furthermore, it serves as a direct nod to the very content that initially catapulted her to digital stardom.
McHale acknowledged the irony and organic nature of her online growth, noting that she initially built her substantial following through viral hair roller tutorials online, making hair accessories a natural fit for the brand’s portfolio. However, she emphasized that they are methodical in their expansion, clarifying that they are not trying to morph into a traditional beauty conglomerate overnight. Instead, the team is carefully evaluating products that genuinely fit into their daily lives and routines, expressing excitement for future developments while reminding consumers that this retail expansion is truly just the beginning.
Reflecting on the journey of entrepreneurship, McHale previously likened building a business with her sister to unlocking a hidden superpower, a sentiment that remains completely unchanged a year into the brand’s lifecycle. She explained that their distinct and often contrasting instincts ultimately make the final product much stronger. According to McHale, one sister might introduce the foundational kernel of an idea for an upcoming campaign, while the other immediately begins brainstorming ways to elevate it, make it funnier, or push it in a more unexpected creative direction. Because they are sisters, they share an unfiltered dynamic where they can easily voice disagreement, telling each other when an idea does not work or completely shifting directions mid-stream, all driven by a shared commitment to achieving the best possible end result.
The collaborative, dynamic process of bringing the first Phe Phe pop-up to life mirrored the creative teamwork behind their digital campaigns. When asked whether this physical activation hints at a permanent future for the brand’s offline retail footprint, Pheloung noted that establishing a physical presence marks the genesis of a much larger world for the enterprise. Starting with a very specific product category and a singular point of view, the founders have successfully cultivated a brand identity that now touches multiple facets of their daily lives. Moving forward, the goal is to curate many more interactive experiences and deepen community engagement through direct, face-to-face interactions with customers.
Ashley Leo, president of Phe Phe and founder of The Leo Group, emphasized that bridging the gap and moving the Phe Phe community offline is vital to ensuring the long-term longevity and health of the business. Having a physical storefront allows the leadership team to observe firsthand what specific products consumers are responding to, what items they are trying on in fitting rooms, what they are ultimately purchasing, and what they hope to see next from the brand. Those invaluable qualitative and quantitative insights can then directly inform everything from product development and merchandise planning to broader content creation and marketing strategies.
The Phe Phe SoHo pop-up store is currently open to the public through Sunday at 131 Greene Street.
