Startup Spotlight: Floofah prevents plastic waste, one shower at a time 

As marketing director of a recycling tech startup, Phoebe Yu, EWMBA 25, understood the massive environmental impact of disposable plastic shower products— including ones she once used herself.

“I had a lot of guilt when I would use products like the plastic shower loofahs that I’ve been using my entire life,” said Yu, the founder of startup Floofah. “I couldn’t bring myself to buy another one.” 

Before starting Floofah, Yu searched for a high-quality alternative to a plastic loofah, one that wasn’t a “greenwashed” mix of plastic and natural materials or a scratchy “sea-sponge style” product.

That research finally led her to a product she liked—and the launch of Floofah, which offers compostable alternatives to plastic poufs.

Haas News recently interviewed Yu about her journey as an entrepreneur, how the MBA program is helping her achieve her startup’s sustainability goals, and her “triple bottom line” of people, profit, and planet.

Haas News: Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?

Phoebe Yu: Entrepreneurship is close to my heart because my dad was the first entrepreneur in his entire family. He started his first business when I was 7. So his spirit and the way that his success came was enlightening for me. But coming into business school, I didn’t think I was going to have my own business. I struggled a lot with the idea of consumerism and it was difficult for me to say, ‘I’m going to sell a thing and make money.’ It’s hard on the world from an environmental perspective. But when I stumbled upon the idea for Floofah, I just kind of knew, if I could switch somebody’s behavior instead of adding to the problem, that made a lot of sense. So for me, becoming an entrepreneur was that I landed on something that I felt personally resonated.

 How did you land on the idea for Floofah?

I was in my mom’s kitchen, and I saw her using an odd-shaped sponge to scrub her pan. It was a piece of a luffa plant, which has been used in cuisines, especially Asian, as a scrubbing tool for many years. So I tried it, and it was rough—very scratchy on the skin. So unfortunately, that wasn’t the right product, but I knew that was going to be the way that I would proceed. So, for a few months, I collected this giant box of samples from manufacturers from all over the world to look for something that I’d feel comfortable offering. 

I worked with manufacturers on the softness and the different shapes and designs to make sure it would “floof” up in water. I was very lucky because I was able to prioritize things other than pricing. A lot of the time people look for the cheapest price, but in this case, I was looking for quality, consistency, and transparency.

Why did you choose the luffa and where did you end up sourcing your product?

The luffa is a vegetable in the melon family—a cousin of the cucumber. Once you harvest the luffa, you peel it, and there’s a spongy fiber structure within the gourd. I did not invent this but I realized that it was a viable form factor. I found a farmer in Southern China who grows luffa gourds during two harvest seasons a year. The gourds are then processed and manufactured at their facility. So it’s vertically integrated. Knowing the farmers was important to me because there’s so much more certainty when it comes to the raw materials used to make the product. 

How has your experience in the MBA program helped you build Floofah?

All of the startups and companies I’ve worked at have a very strong social impact element. Either healthy eating or democratizing eye care, or transparency in recycling. I can tell you with 100% certainty that if I did not attend Haas, Floofah wouldn’t exist. Without some of my Haas courses and our amazing professors, I just would not have known what I know now. I’m an advocate for the Michaels Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business.

One of the classes I adored is called Social Impact Marketing, which taught me some background on what social impact can do in business. I’m also taking Business Models for Social Impact, and we’re evaluating the biggest impact we can make. I’m always learning, always exploring, and never settling. The peer resources are also amazing. I just had a collaboration with BLUX (Beauty & Luxury Consumer Products Club @ Berkeley). About 20 students interested in beauty products came to our very own Berkeley eHub to spend an hour with me. I’m also attending the Berkeley Female Founders and Funders Summit later this month. 

Can you discuss some of the ways you are making a social impact through your startup?

Floofah’s mission is to offer a plastic-free product that is fully compostable to reduce landfill waste and CO2 emissions. We’ve met that goal with our products. In addition to being environmentally committed, Floofah also donates products to use in the shower to nonprofits like Cloud Covered Streets, Shower Power, and the Dorothy Day House. At this point, this is the biggest social impact I can make as a business. 

Looking at the triple bottom line—people, profit, and planet—I think it’s important for businesses to stay true to themselves. I’m not here for a quick buck. I want the world to switch to a better, more sustainable shower loofah.