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Overview
Threads Styling has the goal of becoming the new face of luxury and building the largest luxury fashion shopping platform. Since it started the business has been an online personal shopping service which has utilised Instagram to reach its clients.
However, to achieve its goals the company needed to pivot and embrace the self-service model so it would no longer be reliant on the availability of personal shoppers.
Introducing the Top Secret Closet, an e-commerce platform which grants access to exclusive collections, coveted accessories and sold-out styles.
Brief
Create a secure, user-friendly and visually appealing platform that offers the businesses elite customers a curated selection of products, early access to new releases, and special promotions.
Details
Company:
Threads Styling
Position:
UX/UI Designer
Location:
London
Research
We began by conducting a lot of competitor research to better understand the look and feel of a luxury fashion experience. This involved studying brands such as Net-a-Porter, Farfetch, Chanel and Matches Fashion.
We discovered many similarities between these fashion retailers. Colour schemes consisted of only black and white, most would utilise large product images and there was generous amounts of negative space to frame each item. All of this produced an environment with no distractions that would perfectly merchandise the products.
Challenge
The biggest challenge was turning the existing internal product catalogue into a platform that was an enjoyable experience for clients but also encompassed the luxurious brand aesthetic they have come to expect from Threads Styling.
The internal product catalogue had been created some time ago and included a lot of surplus information that would be valuable for a personal shopper but of no interest to a client browsing the curated items.
Approach
To start with we would need to scale back the existing internal product catalogue which looked cluttered and more like a work tool than a luxurious e-commerce experience.
For the most part we kept a similar structure to the original catalogue as it followed good UX practices and would save on development time. However, the UI would now be minimalist and visually appealing with ample white space, high-quality images, and elegant typography to convey a sense of sophistication and exclusivity.
The overall user journey would also change as clients would now be able to add items to a basket and checkout with no assistance. This meant wireframing and adding new screens that previously did not exist.
As the Top Secret Closet is a responsive web app this would mean designing both a mobile and desktop experience.
Design
The existing design system was revamped, moving away from rounder fonts and button styles to a sharper and slicker look.
In terms of typography, we replaced the friendly Nunito font with Gotham and Gascogne to provide a stylish vibe while being in line with current company branding. We also removed the bright colours from badges and notifications to introduce a more monochrome palette of blacks and greys.
Results
An elegant e-commerce website released to an initial audience of 100 VIP clients, which surpassed forecast sales by 12% and made up 18% of total sales in the first quarter.
Due to initial success, released to the full target group of 1,000 clients. Adoption measured at 61% with a repeat visit rate of 23% among that group.