From Concept to Commerce:

Scaling Openlooks with AI & Shopify

Openlooks.co is a referee attire brand founded by two full-time professionals who needed a scalable and low-maintenance e-commerce solution.

Project Background

While Bartending at a Sportsbar in Uptown Charlotte, I met Dylan and Owen, two busy professionals who wanted to provide Referees with gear designed for comfort.

The founders were already active in-person at NCAA and NBA games, and the goal of this project was to transition their offerings — compression socks and compression shorts — into a digital storefront that could grow with their product line.

They needed a platform that could support new products, mobile-friendly management, and streamlined policies — all built on their existing brand identity.

My Primary Role

Website & Content Designer

Project Timeline

2.5 Weeks

Team:

Client founders (2), Myself

Methods Used

Persona creation, SEO content strategy, UX/UI design, platform implementation

Project Toolkit

These methods helped me efficiently and effectively bring the project from idea to fruition.

Persona Creation

To help the clients visualize who they were serving and how to build strong relationships with them.

SEO Strategy

To ensure their website and product pages had unique keywords and captivating descriptions to encourage positive buying signals.

UX and UI Design

To ensure that the users that visit the website can nagivate the website, learn about the product and BUY.

Platform Implementation

Apply the branding, strategy and stakeholder knowledge into Shopify while educating the founders how to use and maintain the platform.

Exploration & Discovery

Understanding the Product & Market

The founders had been selling directly to referees at NCAA and NBA events and already had anecdotal customer feedback. I worked with them to translate these insights into a clear customer persona:

User and Customer Stories

Feature priorities curated from end user goals and stakeholder needs.

"I checked our inventory and updated a product right from my phone — all on my lunch break. Shopify makes managing our store fit my 9-to-5."

Dylan,
Co-founder

"I bought my second pair of socks during halftime using the Shop app. Quick, easy, and already saved my info."

Madison,
NCAA Referee

"At the game, a customer loved the shorts. I opened the Shopify app, took payment on the spot, and sent a receipt — all from my phone."

Owen,
Co-Founder

Platform Recommendation

Given their full-time work schedules, I recommended Shopify due to:

Its robust mobile admin app, allowing them to manage inventory and fulfill orders from their phones.
Integration with the Shop App, boosting discoverability.
Built-in tools for inventory, SEO, policy pages, and scalable product lines.
Future implementation of Google and Facebook Ads

Experience Design Process

I created a lightweight store architecture with future scalability in mind:

Sitemap & Store Architecture:

Home

Shop All Products

About

Contact

Policies (Privacy, Refund, Terms)

Inventory & Pricing System

I developed a custom tagging and inventory structure for future expansion into new SKUs and categories. Products were set up with variant logic (e.g., size, color) and tied into a central pricing structure to maintain consistency.

Product Page UX & SEO

I wrote SEO-friendly product descriptions that used clear benefit-driven language tailored to referees. The goal was to capture both search visibility and a professional tone.

Policy Drafting

Using AI and professional legal advice, I helped create a first draft of their refund policy, privacy policy, and terms of service, which could be reviewed by their legal team.

Results

As of April 2025, Openlooks.co has earned over $25,000 in revenue.

Since the store's official launch, the founders have launched a Google Ads campaign to drive website traffic, however the founder's note that the majority of their sales have been the result of word of mouth.

After initially starting with 2 Products, Dylan and Owen have since added 3 more sock variations, a referee whistle, shirts and compression leggings to their product line up.

Best of all, they've earned a 5-Star verified review rating.

Customer Reviews

"Quick turn around thanks for the whistle! I'll order again soon.

Jeremy,
Crew Socks - 2 pack

These are the most comfortable compression shorts I’ve used. Great Quality

michael,
Compression Shorts

I love putting these socks on my feet! The size perfectly fits my foot and the feel of walking around with an extra layer of cushioning on my foot makes all the difference. Thank you, Open Looks!

Jeremy,
Crew Socks, 2 Pack