Pudl is DTC outerwear brand based out of UK. It's flagship product is The Pudl Suit, a unisex, all-season, fully waterproof rain suit designed to keep you dry, warm, and comfortable so you can get outside, whatever the forecast.
Sophie Brown, founder of Pudl, came up with the idea when she tried pushing a pram while holding an umbrella in UK rain. She wanted something to quickly throw over her indoor clothes that made her feel fully protected from the elements.
Unable to find a good solution, Sophie decided to solve her own problem. She designed and made The Pudl Suit. Pudl launched on Kickstarter and was an instant hit. In just two hours, it received over 250 pledges from 196 backers.
Pudl's Kickstarter successfully ended on November, 2026. This is where the problem started. After Kickstarter there was no way for Pudl to collect pledges. As an early stage DTC brand without big investors, the implications of this problem was huge for Pudl.
Without Kickstarter pledges, Pudl ran into financial unsustainability, manufacturing hurdles, and declining growth. Additionally, Pudl didn't have an online storefront to sell The Pudl Suit and communicated the brand's story.
This is where Pudl and my collaboration began. Sophie and I started with a discovery call with the deep dive on her vision for Pudl. She wanted a Shopify storefront customized to collect pre-orders and communicated Pudl's story.
I designed and developed an end to end Shopify storefront for Pudl. It was customized with pre-order purchase option, conversion optimized design and UX, customer support functionality, and essential Shopify Admin setup.
For accepting pre-orders, I customized Pudl's Shopify storefront with pre-order purchase option. Additionally, I setup and configured Shopify Payments gateway which is compulsory for accepting pre-orders inside the Shopify platform.
I designed and developed twenty pages for Pudl's Shopify storefront. Each page had conversion optimzied design and UX with essential sections and copy to gain customer customer trust and increase conversions.
To enable customer support functionality, I installed and configured Shopify Inbox for Pudl's Shopify storefront. Additionally, I setup essential Shopify Admin setup such as products, collections, markets, taxes and duties, and policies.
"Nafio took us from nothing really to a beautiful, fully functioning Shopify website that was optimized for sales."
Pudl Shopify storefront launched at the end of February, 2026. Since launch, Pudl has achieved some remarkable outcomes that truly highlights the effectiveness of the design and functionality of the Shopify storefront.
In the first quarter alone, Pudl acquired over 300 pre-orders via it's Shopify storefront. Now, Pudl is able to stay sustainable financially sustainable as it can collect payments upfront from customers, use the funds manufacturing, and ship when ready.
The customer support functionality powered by Shopify Inbox allows Pudl to respond to customer inquiries promptly and efficiently. This helps them build trust with customers, which is crucial for Shopify storefronts with pre-order purchase option.
