Case study · Shopify · B2B

Lead Apparel: 50+ brands of company merch, one B2B storefront.

Lead Apparel supplies corporate merchandise from more than 50 licensed brands, customised with company logos. We built the Shopify storefront that lets a buyer find the right item by category, garment, brand or occasion, and connects to Launch, its platform for private employee swag stores.

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Licensed brands
50+
Decoration methods
5
Ways to browse
4

Live storefront · scrolling top to bottom

01 / PROJECT DETAILS

The project at a glance.

Lead Apparel sells company-branded apparel, bags, drinkware and tech to businesses across the United States.

leadapparel.com (opens in a new tab)
Client
Lead Apparel
Industry
B2B corporate merchandise
Region
United States
Platform
Shopify
Engagement
End-to-end build
Timeline
2022–2026

What we delivered

  • Shopify storefront development
  • Catalogue architecture
  • Brand and occasion navigation
  • Launch swag-store platform

02 / THE PROBLEM

A catalogue too wide to browse one way.

Corporate buyers do not all start in the same place. One wants a Patagonia quarter zip, another needs gifts for a golf outing, a third is kitting out new hires. The store had to carry 50+ licensed brands across apparel, bags, drinkware and tech, show five ways to decorate each item, and serve companies that want their own employee store rather than a single bulk order.

50+ brands in one catalogue

Nike, The North Face, Patagonia, Peter Millar, YETI, Tumi and dozens more, each with its own range.

Five decoration methods

Embroidery, print, patch, laser and pad print all had to be explained and offered clearly.

Buyers shop by occasion

Golf outings, 5K races, tradeshows, new hires and company retreats each need a different edit.

Employee stores, not only bulk orders

Companies wanted staff to choose their own items and have them shipped directly.

03 / THE SOLUTION

One catalogue, four ways in.

We built the storefront so the same catalogue can be entered by featured category, by gender and garment type, by brand, or by gifting occasion. Decoration methods sit on the homepage as a section of their own, and the store links to Launch for companies that want a private swag store.

  • Category and garment navigation

    Featured categories and a men's and women's split by garment type cover the buyer who knows what they want.

  • A brand index, two ways

    Brands can be browsed by style or A–Z, so a buyer loyal to one label gets there in a click.

  • Gift ideas by occasion

    Company events, employee appreciation and retreats each have their own collection.

  • Launch, for employee swag stores

    A connected platform where companies run private stores with discount codes and direct-to-employee shipping.

Desktop and mobile · the same build

04 / STRATEGY

Meet the buyer wherever they start.

Four decisions shaped the build.

  1. 01

    Navigation is the product

    With a catalogue this wide, how you find an item matters more than any single page.

  2. 02

    Brands as a first-class entry point

    Corporate buyers often arrive with a brand in mind, so brands get their own index rather than a filter.

  3. 03

    Occasions do the merchandising

    Grouping by event turns a long catalogue into a short, relevant edit.

  4. 04

    Keep the swag store one step away

    Launch is linked from the storefront, so a bulk buyer can become a company store without starting over.

05 / SCREENS

The storefront in motion.

The whole homepage on desktop and on a phone, scrolling top to bottom side by side. Hover to hold it still.

06 / RESULTS

What shipped for Lead Apparel.

50+

Licensed brands

in one catalogue

5

Decoration methods

embroidery, print, patch, laser, pad print

4

Ways to browse

category, garment, brand, occasion

3 days

Sonic Ship

fastest customise-and-ship option

07 / PROCESS

How the engagement ran.

The same four stages as every engagement, with the specific work done for Lead Apparel at each one. The steps play through in order.

  1. Stage 1

    Audit and scope

    We review the current theme, apps and analytics, then write a fixed-scope SOW with named deliverables and a date.

    What we did for Lead Apparel

    • Mapped how corporate buyers search: brand, garment, occasion
    • Catalogued 50+ licensed brands
    • Scoped five decoration methods

  2. Stage 2

    Design and build

    Work happens in a dev store on a Git-backed workflow. You get a preview link from week one, not a reveal at the end.

    What we did for Lead Apparel

    • Built category and garment navigation
    • Added the brand index, by style and A–Z
    • Built gift ideas by occasion

  3. Stage 3

    QA and launch

    Cross-browser and device QA, redirect map, analytics verification, then a launch window agreed with you rather than dropped on you.

    What we did for Lead Apparel

    • Linked the Launch swag-store platform
    • Cross-browser and device QA
    • Went live with the full catalogue

  4. Stage 4

    Hypercare

    Fourteen to sixty days of included post-launch support while real traffic finds the edge cases.

    What we did for Lead Apparel

    • Sonic Ship collection: ships in as little as 3 business days
    • Resource centre and help desk in place
    • Catalogue kept current across 50+ brands

08 / THE STOREFRONT

Scroll the whole page.

The full Lead Apparel homepage as shoppers see it. Scroll inside the frame to move through it from the offer strip to the footer.

Commerce platform

  • Shopify
  • Online Store 2.0

Connected platform

  • Launch swag stores
  • Discount codes
  • Reporting dashboards
Lead Apparel homepage, full page