Universal WorksContemporary Clothing Brand

Discover the new Shopify e-commerce website we developed for contemporary clothing brand, Universal Works.

Platform: Shopify
Location: Nottingham, UK
Client since: 2021

The final product

Screenshots showcasing the responsive design across devices.

Homepage

The Brief

We’ve been working with Universal Works for a number of years, supporting and enhancing their existing Shopify site, but at the start of 2024 we were commissioned as the development partner - alongside IYA Studio as the design partner - to build a brand new site from the ground up.

IYA Studio took the lead on the design work and once that was complete it was over to us to translate their vision into a functioning Shopify theme and integrate it into a new store alongside a number of app integrations.

As a contemporary clothing brand, Universal Works have a keen eye for detail and a very particular aesthetic look-and-feel they wanted to achieve with the new site so it was a challenge we were very much looking forward to taking on.

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What we did

Universal Works had an existing, custom, Shopify 1.0 version theme and wanted to upgrade to a new 2.0 theme to take advantage of the new features Shopify have made available to both developers and the site’s admin users. This also provided the opportunity for a complete redesign to keep the site looking fresh and aligned with the Universal Works brand.

The new theme was built from the ground up using Shopify’s own templating language, Liquid, creating templates for every page in the site. The highlight of the project is the wide variety of sections (content blocks) that were developed so that the site’s editors could make every page feel unique and engaging.

Having a high level of customisability over the site also presented some difficult challenges. Bespoke solutions were required in places that went outside the realms of standard Shopify functionality. An example of this was allowing for call-to-actions to be injected within the product listing pages whilst working in conjunction with complex product filtering and pagination.

We’re delighted with the finished result and are already working on new features and enhancements to extend the site and make it even more successful for Universal Works and their customers.

Key features

The components and capabilities we delivered.

Shopify 2.0 Theme

Brand new custom Shopify 2.0 theme built from the ground up, replacing the legacy 1.0 version.

Flexible Content Sections

Wide variety of custom sections enabling editors to make every page feel unique and on-brand.

Advanced Product Listings

Bespoke solutions for injecting CTAs within product listing pages alongside complex filtering and pagination.

Enovate has been a trusted partner of Universal Works throughout my tenure. Working closely primarily with Josh on the development of our Shopify storefront, the evolution over the past five years has been dramatic, particularly over the last three years.
In 2024 we overhauled the existing Shopify store that had been in place since 2017. Cleaning up the codebase, migrating over to Shopify 2.0 and completely re-skinning the front-end. We have not looked back since. In 2025 we spread our wings further, migrating our domain to a .com as our global presence grew. On this occasion, Michael was engaged on a multi-agency project team, providing expert guidance and support. The project could not have gone more smoothly. Since then, the site has gone from strength to strength, with the level of complexity and functionality growing almost monthly. Josh is a trusted extension of the team, a solid coder and a cool head when the pressure is on.
Behind the scenes, both Michael and Dan provide personal and efficient service. I sleep soundly at night knowing our hosting, domain management and other dev ops matters are in their capable hands.
—E-commerce Manager, Universal Works Limited

Our approach

A proven process tailored to this project's unique requirements.

Discovery

We start by understanding your goals, audience, and constraints. Through workshops and research, we define the project scope and success criteria.

Strategy & wireframing

We map out the user journey and information architecture. Low-fidelity wireframes let us test ideas quickly before committing to design.

UX/UI design

Visual design that balances aesthetics with usability. We create interfaces that look great and guide users effortlessly toward their goals.

Development

Clean, well-documented code built on proven frameworks. We develop iteratively, sharing progress regularly so you're never in the dark.

Quality assurance & launch

Applications and integration-heavy builds ship with automated test suites, and every project is checked across devices and browsers before it goes live. We handle deployment and keep the launch itself uneventful.