Can medical scrubs be chic? Figs thinks so, opens Rittenhouse store.

Payton Ingiosi pulled back the fitting room curtain for her big reveal: bubblegum-pink medical scrub pants with a jogger-style elastic bottom.

“Those are really cute,” Ingiosi’s friend, Cori Cavitt, gushed from her seat on a bench next to a full-length mirror at Rittenhouse Square’s newest fashion house: FIGS, a California-based brand of medical scrubs.

The $49 pants have no place in her off-duty wardrobe — she and Cavitt are required to wear charcoal gray for their nursing jobs at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. But the brightly colored clothes popped against the store’s minimalist white and chrome decor, and were begging to be tried on.

Figs has built a large online following among medical students and health-care workers by turning one of the frumpiest and most ubiquitous uniforms into a fashion statement. Far from the pillowcase-with-a-drawstring look of traditional scrubs, Figs pants are cut in flare, jogger, and cargo styles. Figure-flattering tops come with flutter sleeves, notch necklines and polo collars. The line includes core colors — shades of blue or gray to fit any health system’s color scheme — and limited-edition releases, such as this fall’s espresso and dirty chai.

Now the company has set its sights on Philadelphia to build its lifestyle brand with brick-and-mortar retail locations. Figs marketing points out that the city serves as the training grounds for one of every six doctors in the country, and is home to thousands of medical professionals.

At $85 for a top and bottom set, Figs scrubs aren’t affordable for everyone. Many health systems require medical staff to wear specific colors, and some even provide the uniform.

But the company hopes that a physical location, where shoppers can try on clothes and see firsthand what the hype is all about, will convert a few more Figs devotees.

Beyond a store where shoppers can try on Figs’ many styles and colors, the company envisions the spot as a “community hub,” where health-care workers will gather to unwind at the end of a shift, discuss important issues in the medical workforce, and, presumably, chat about their favorite Figs fits.

“We want to be where our community is,” said Bené Eaton, the company’s chief marketing officer. “Philadelphia is really one of the most vibrant health-care communities in the nation.”

» READ MORE: Do clothes make the doctor? A Philly dermatologist explains his enthusiasm for scrubs.

Figs was founded in 2013 and quickly grew online with clever marketing campaigns featuring real medical professionals.

Its marketing campaigns describe health-care workers as “heroes” and “awesome humans” and encourage people to post photos of themselves in Figs garb with the hashtag “#wearfigs.”

Efforts to tap into medicine’s in-crowd have at times missed the mark. In 2020, the retailer faced backlash after a promotional video featured a female physician in pink scrubs holding an upside down book with the title “Medical Terminology for Dummies.”

But the company reported $22 million in net income in 2023, with projected growth this year.

Over the summer, Figs was named the official outfitter of the U.S. Olympic team’s medical staff, bringing its trendy scrubs to the international fashion capital, Paris.

Now it’s looking for buzz in Philly. The company hopes its Philadelphia “community hub” — with free cold brew, plush chairs, and a few cafe tables — will strengthen Figs’ reputation as a lifestyle brand for medical insiders. The space will also host guest speakers and events on policy issues that matter to the medical workforce, such as mental health, Eaton said.

The city is also home to hundreds of medical students, a prime audience for Figs’ “ambassador” program.

Ambassadors often have a significant social media following and routinely post photos of themselves in Figs scrubs — always with the #wearfigs hashtag — though Eaton emphasized that a social media persona isn’t a requirement.

Ambassadors proudly wear Figs scrubs, attend company events, and encourage others to shop Figs.

For many, the relationship is symbiotic.

Ade Osinubi, a third-year emergency medicine resident at Penn Medicine, said being a part of the Figs ambassador program has helped her advance her health advocacy interests.

The company helped promote her documentary about Black maternal health last year, and she accompanied the Figs team to the Paris Olympics.

“It’s mostly about connecting with people, other Figs ambassadors,” she said. “It’s been really great having that community.”

On a recent Thursday, a steady trickle of off-duty medical workers wandered through Figs’ new Rittenhouse Square store.

They browsed the neat racks of scrub pants and tops (all organized by color), admired the custom embroidery on mannequins’ shirts (available in-house for $14), and picked up the chunky white sneakers Figs designed with New Balance for long days of standing (carefully adjusted back into display position by a store associate after customers walked away).

Arpun Bains, a dental student at Penn, stopped by the Philadelphia store to try on a few styles she’d been admiring.

She splurged for a pair of navy Figs scrubs during a sale after her program-issued scrubs stained her other clothes in the wash. The brand’s proprietary “Technical Comfort” fabric is more breathable and less itchy than typical scrubs, she said.

Bains sat with a chai latte in the upstairs lounge area before leaving. She could see herself and friends studying there on a cool Saturday afternoon, if they added a few more tables.

“It would definitely beat the library,” she said.

Atiya Bolden-Hannah, a nurse at Jefferson Health, said she was glad she came in — she would have ordered a different size than what she ended up buying.

The set of scrubs she picked out is very comfortable, she said, and she liked the more tailored look. She just hopes she can keep them clean.

“We use a lot of bleach,” she said. “You don’t know it’s hit you until you look down at the bottoms of your pants.”