Phluid Project Founder Rob Smith on Genderless Fashion and Business

“Gen Z is coming! Gen Z is coming!” Phluid Project founder Rob Smith joked that he should ring a bell like Paul Revere to alert the industry that Gen Z consumers are coming, questioning everything and making big changes. Smith said they’re the first generation “to question the status quo every single time.” They are also one-third of the population, which is the same size as Baby Boomers; care about racial equality and sustainability, and have a spending power of $143 billion — and up to $200 billion when accounting for purchases they influence. In addition, 56 percent of Gen Z consumers shop outside of their assigned gendered area, 40 percent identify as strictly heterosexual and 50 percent know someone with a gender-neutral pronoun. But Smith’s relationship with Gen Z is much different from most retailers trying to attract and attach itself to youth culture. Smith is connected to the generation through fashion, gender expression and activism at the Phluid Project. “We are the mecca for young people,” Smith said. “The concept of Phluid started out as looking at clothing but not gendering it so it became the world’s first gender-free store. But then we really started to build our whole business based on our

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