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Qadam

NDA

A Shopify theme for an Agra women's shoe label: a storefront that finds your size in every last, says how each one fits and makes the exchange its own risk.

Built for a client under NDA. We can't reveal the brand, so the name and identity you see here stand in for theirs.

  • NDA
  • Footwear
  • Online Store 2.0

Qadam, Agra theme preview: the home page, starting with the video banner.

Challenge

Qadam makes women's shoes in Agra, India's shoe city: five lasts in vegetable-tanned calf, lined and soled in leather, at ₹6,200 to ₹9,800. Shoes are bought without a fitting, and a wrong size usually costs the shopper the trip back. The old store sold them like any other: one size chart, a list of sizes to guess from and a returns page to read after the order.

  • Sizes came in four systems that disagreed, EU, UK, US and IN, and nothing said which to trust
  • Whether a shoe runs small lived in the reviews, one last at a time
  • Width was not a choice, so a wide foot bought a size up and lost the shoe at the heel
  • A heel was a number of millimetres, never a number of hours
  • Sending the wrong size back was the buyer's risk, and the rule sat on a policy page

The brief was a theme that finds the size before it asks for money, says how each last fits, and makes the exchange the shop's risk.

How we worked

01 Discover: What a shopper needs to know before she buys leather shoes she cannot try on

02 Define: Three proto-personas and the journey from a guessed size to a shoe that stays on

03 Design: Wireframes first, then the storefront, section by section

04 Optimise: The product page, the size finder and how we'd test them

01 · Discover

The brief

Sell hand-lasted leather shoes at ₹6,200 to ₹9,800 online, to women who cannot try them on and have been let down by size charts that disagree with each other.

  1. Size is found, not listed: two measurements in any form give EU, UK, US and IN, the width, and the size in each of the five lasts.
  2. Every last fits differently, so the fit is said on the card, per last, and never left to the reviews.
  3. The exchange is the shop's risk: the size is free to change within 14 days, both ways on us, and the page says so beside the button.
  1. The between-sizes buyer Is a 37 in one brand and a 38 in the next, and has returned more shoes than she has kept.
  2. The wide-foot buyer Buys a size up for the width and then loses the shoe at the heel.
  3. The all-day stander Is on her feet from eight to six and has stopped trusting a heel height given as a number.

02 · Define

From a guessed size to a shoe that stays on

  1. Discover

    HesitationAnother shoe site with a size chart nobody trusts?

    AnswerA masthead that says your size, per last, a free exchange both ways, and a workshop in Agra.

    The between-sizes buyer

  2. Browse

    HesitationWhich of these can I stand in?

    AnswerFive lasts, each with its fit line under the name, and three ways to wear a day: standing, an evening, a weekend.

    The all-day stander

  3. Size

    HesitationWhat do I take, and is there room across the ball?

    AnswerFoot length and width in any form, and the page returns the size in every last, the width, and a flag on the lasts that are best for a wide foot.

    The wide-foot buyer

  4. Commit

    HesitationWhat if the size is still wrong?

    AnswerOne line before the button: exchange the size free within 14 days, both ways on us, and a second button for the same size in another last.

    The between-sizes buyer

  5. Wear

    HesitationWill it hold up, and what happens at the end of its life?

    AnswerThe heel is matched to the hours on the card, and the sole is resoled in Agra for ₹1,200 as many times as the uppers allow.

    The all-day stander

03 · Design

Wireframe to storefront

Ten sections, from the fit-first bar to the footer, each one the team can move, edit or switch off in the theme editor. Wireframes first, then the design.

Home page, Online Store 2.0 · 10 sections. The home page as ten stations along a shoemaker's bench, in storefront order: each goes from wireframe to finished storefront as the awl passes over it.

1 / 10

  1. Announcement bar

    Your size, per last, a free exchange both ways, hand-lasted in Agra: three promises, no countdown.

  2. Header

    Five links, the wordmark centred, and Fit where a sale link used to be.

  3. Video banner

    One pair on a sandstone step in low sun, one line: Your size, per last. Nothing on sale.

  4. Collection list

    Three ways to wear a day, standing, an evening and a weekend, in place of a shelf of categories.

  5. Featured collection

    The five lasts, each with its fit line under the name: runs ½ size small, true to size, runs ½ size large.

  6. Image with text

    Two measurements, in any form, explained in two lines beside a foot on paper, a ruler and a last.

  7. Multicolumn

    Made in Agra: the cut, the last and the burnish, one line each.

  8. Blog posts

    Three notes from the bench: why a loafer runs large, what a 55 mm heel asks of six hours, why we resole.

  9. Newsletter

    Letters from the bench, once a month, with no code attached.

  10. Footer

    Shop, fit, care and help, with exchanges and width in their own place.

04 · Optimise

The product page, decision by decision

Shoes are bought without a fitting and every last fits differently. Each number marks a decision on the product page and the reason for it.

  1. The name is the last. Leather, heel height and lining sit under it in one line, with the price and taxes beside them, so one mule is one page.

  2. Tan, Oxblood, Black and Bone as four round swatches, large enough to hit, with the chosen hide named above.

  3. EU sizes in one row with halves, Standard and Wide in the next, and Find my size beside them: two measurements, in any form, fill both in.

  4. EU, UK, US and IN together, the fit line for this last, the size in the pointed flat, and what the model wears, in one card before the button.

  5. Exchange the size free within 14 days, both ways on us, and the resole price. Said where the doubt is, not in a policy page.

  6. Add to Bag is the only filled button; the same size in another last is an outline button with its own price, and asking the concierge is a plain link.

Qadam, Agra product page buy box beside the Almond mule in profile, with 6 numbered decisions: 1. Last, leather and price under the name; 2. Four hides as swatches; 3. Size, width, then Find my size; 4. Your size in this last; 5. The promise, said plainly; 6. One filled button, the pair beside it.

04 · Optimise

Your size, per last

Three steps from the theme, in order: your foot, the five lasts, the hours you stand. Every last fits differently, so the size is given in each.

Step 1: Your foot

24.5 · 24.5 cm · 245 mm · 9 5/8 in, any form
9.4 · 9.4 cm · 94 mm · 3 3/4 in, any form

Stand on paper, mark heel and longest toe, measure the line

Step 2: Per last

Step 3: Hours on your feet

The Almond mule ₹7,200

Exchange the size free within 14 days, both ways on us.

Resoled in Agra for ₹1,200. Our model is 168 cm and wears EU 38 in the mule, 39 in the pointed flat.

Design tokens

The leather wall

Type

  • Headings & wordmark · Bricolage Grotesque SemiBold

    Your size, per last.

  • Interface · Archivo

    Five lasts · Hand-lasted in Agra

  • Sizes & prices · Archivo Medium

    The Almond mule ₹7,200

Components

Add to Bag · ₹7,200; Add the Loafer in your size; ₹8,400, Your size, per last · Exchange free both ways

A woman in a white linen skirt and tan pointed mules, standing on stone steps by the water

04 · Optimise

How we'd test it

These are the first three experiments we'd run after launch, and what each one has to prove.

  1. Test 1 of 3

    If
    the card above the button gives the size in this last, with its fit line
    Then
    fewer orders are exchanged for size
    Because
    each last's fit is stated on the page, not learned from reviews
    Metric
    Size-exchange rate
    Guardrail
    Add-to-bag rate

  2. Test 2 of 3

    If
    width is a choice beside size, with 'wide is 6 mm wider across the ball' written under it
    Then
    more shoppers who pick Wide complete the order
    Because
    the width is chosen on a measure, not guessed by buying a size up
    Metric
    Order completion among shoppers who pick Wide
    Guardrail
    Width-related exchanges

  3. Test 3 of 3

    If
    the heel is paired with hours on the feet and the pair is added in one tap
    Then
    more shoppers add the pair that suits how long they stand
    Because
    the heel is read as a number of hours, not a number of millimetres
    Metric
    Add-to-bag rate on the suggested pair
    Guardrail
    Exchange rate
Next case study Sayra A Shopify theme for a made-to-order linen and silk label from New Delhi: a storefront that sells the cloth and the cut at full price, and says when each dress will ship. Read the case study

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