Overview
UX Case Study
FlyKind is a mobile-first ecommerce platform for sustainable fashion that uses material from upcycled parachutes. I designed the shopping experience by storytelling and a batch-based system that also supports marketing and production.
28% increase in add-to-cart rate by improving product clarity and storytelling
40% faster checkout with a simplified, mobile-first purchase flow
Stronger trust and understanding of upcycled materials across all tested users
Problem
Create a shopping experience that makes unfamiliar upcycled products easier to understand, more trustworthy, and more compelling to buy, while supporting the business's need for clearer inventory communication and production planning.
Strategy
Built trust through storytelling around material origin and product uniqueness.
Simplified the mobile shopping flow so users can move faster and with more confidence.
Introduced a batch-based system to clearly show product availability and connect inventory, marketing, and production.
Solution
I used the limited parachute material as part of the experience. The batch-based system made availability clearer for shoppers and helped the business manage inventory, marketing, and production. Original tags and markings also became part of the story, with a lottery-style feature that made some pieces feel even more special.
Each parachute defines a limited batch based on the total material available, with multiple product types drawing from the same shared material pool
Batch progress updates in real time so shoppers know what they can still order, and the batch closes when capacity is reached or the order window ends
Once the batch closes, production begins
Some stock items are created from buffer or leftover material combined across batches, reducing waste while enabling a small number of ready-to-ship pieces
One piece in each batch includes the original parachute tag, adding rarity and creating a storytelling moment
Shoppers loved the idea of upcycled parachute products, but they needed more clarity to feel confident buying them. I redesigned the listing experience to make each product feel more real, easier to understand, and easier to compare, while also helping the business communicate limited inventory more clearly.
Initial listing
Research-refined listing
Made each piece feel distinct. Instead of grouped listings, I used individual product listings so shoppers could see the real differences created by each parachute cut.
Focused on what shoppers looked for first. Research showed that photo, price, and size/fit mattered most early on, so those details were prioritized in the browsing experience.
Reduced hidden information. Instead of swipe-only galleries, I used thumbnails so key details like material and variation were easier to see at a glance.
Improved clarity around availability. Size filters and a clearer listing structure made products easier to compare and helped the business communicate limited inventory more honestly.
FlyKind's upcycled materials needed more context to feel clear and trustworthy. I used storytelling to bring the material's origin and transformation into the shopping experience.
Custom made
Standard product
Integrated the parachute's story into the shopping experience through batch details, source imagery, and before-to-after context
Showed the making process as part of the story so shoppers could better understand what made each piece unique
Carried that storytelling across both custom-made and standard product flows to create a clearer, more meaningful, and more trustworthy experience
To I designed the checkout flow to be easier to follow. Keeping guidance and pricing visible helped shoppers understand the process and cost without losing momentum.
Sticky total — kept pricing and checkout visible
Sticky instruction — clarified the batch process at key moments
Add-on pricing — used a familiar "pizza menu" pattern to make extras and their costs easier to understand
Progress bar — made the flow feel easier to follow
Results
Prototype testing with five participants — including two returning FlyKind customers and three new users recruited for the study — showed measurable improvement across every key metric.
28%
Increase in add-to-cart rate in prototype testing vs. original flow
5/5
Participants understood the material origin story without prompting
40%
Reduction in checkout task completion time vs. existing experience
FlyKind reminded me that even though e-commerce has many best practices, no pattern is truly one size fits all. The brand's one-of-a-kind materials and batch-based model created trust questions that standard shopping flows could not fully solve. Doing FlyKind-specific research made those needs visible early, so the experience could be shaped around real expectations instead of assumptions.
It also reminded me why UX/UI matters. Design helps connect the reality of a business to an experience that feels clear, honest, and trustworthy for the customer. When research shapes the structure, language, and interactions, the product does not just look better — it works better for both the user and the brand.
