Second Hand Blues
I designed and built a full-stack e-commerce site for my own vintage clothing brand, directing Claude as a design partner while making every design call myself.
Problem
Selling vintage on Instagram and Depop meant stale inventory, endless scrolling and no way to ask for a specific style.
My role
Solo designer & developer
Solution
A live store with Shopify-synced inventory, 5 curated categories and custom style bundles.
Outcome
A launched, working e-commerce site for my vintage clothing business.
What I did
- Spotted the problem from selling 800+ items at flea markets, on Depop and on my site
- Designed the brand, information architecture and every page
- Decided on curated categories and style bundles based on what customers asked for
- Coded the front end in HTML and CSS and connected Shopify for live inventory and checkout
- Directed Claude as a design partner; I set the direction and made the final calls
Overview.pngTXTProblem.txtPDFResearch.pdfPDFInsights.pdfMDIdeation.md
Design.fig
Outcome.pngURLLive Site.url ↗
Selling vintage through Instagram, Depop and flea markets meant outdated inventory, endless scrolling and no way for customers to ask for a specific style.
How might we make shopping curated vintage as easy as shopping a regular store — without losing the thrill of the find?
I’ve sold 800+ items at flea markets, on Depop and on my site, and talking with those customers showed me what they want. They want to:
- Browse curated collections quickly
- View products without excessive navigation
- Request styles without having to thrift themselves
- Access inventory that reflects real-time availability
Stale inventory breaks trust
Customers lose interest when items they want turn out to be sold.
What I designedSynced inventory live from Shopify.
Too much choice causes fatigue
Scrolling every item at once is overwhelming.
What I designedSplit the shop into 5 curated categories.
Not everyone wants to dig
Many shoppers like vintage but not the hunt.
What I designedAdded custom style bundles shoppers can request.
Rather than using AI only for code, I treated Claude as a design collaborator.
- Brainstorm information architecture
- Explore navigation patterns
- Generate layout concepts
- Evaluate usability tradeoffs
- Rapidly prototype interface ideas
- Translate UX decisions into production code
Claude helped me explore options quickly. I chose the direction, made the final design decisions and wrote the site.
My partI designed and coded every page: the brand, the navigation, the collection and bundle flows, and the Shopify connection.
The Collection
Visitors browse 5 curated categories instead of every product at once, and Shopify keeps availability accurate. See it live ↗
Custom Style Bundles
Thrifting isn’t for everyone — but shopping sustainably can be. Shoppers describe the vibe they want instead of digging for it. See it live ↗
A live e-commerce site with real-time inventory, curated collections and style bundles, integrated with Shopify checkout. Visit the site ↗
