SOL SEOK NEEDED A FULLY CUSTOM E-COMMERCE FRAMEWORK WITH CREATIVE AUTONOMY FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE BRAND LAUNCH

About Sol Seok: Sol Seok explores athletic outdoor culture as mental practise. Founded by Stein Haugen, Ali Shah Gallefoss, and Sun Helen Kalvenes, Sol Seok is both endurance culture, artistic practice, and philosophical inquiry.

The project: Sol Seok needed to build a fully functional and scalable e-commerce framework that would give their design-focused team complete creative autonomy while establishing technical infrastructure for their brand launch—a sophisticated headless setup that could support their vision without compromising on the cohesive brand experience they were orchestrating.

We matched them with developers who could provide strategic guidance on complex tech stack decisions, navigate between headless (Swell/Medusa/Shopify) and traditional theme approaches, and build custom solutions that prioritized both flexibility and creative control.

The challenge was finding the right balance between technical sophistication and practical simplicity for a team with no coding skills, evaluating multiple platform options (Shopify vs. Swell vs. Medusa) to find the optimal long-term solution, and building a framework that would allow the design team to maintain full creative control while staying within startup budget constraints.

Sol Seok chose Daniel Perlman, a Shopify expert with over a decade of experience specializing in headless builds and custom e-commerce frameworks for design-forward brands.

Daniel provided comprehensive technical consultation on platform selection and architecture, navigated evolving requirements and delivered a flexible Shopify solution that adapted as the project scope evolved.

THE WORK

• ‍Platform Strategy Consultation: Evaluated Shopify vs. Swell vs. Medusa, discussed headless vs. traditional themes, and provided detailed pros/cons analysis for each approach‍
• Tech Stack Guidance: Advised on Builder.io vs. Plasmic for visual editing, recommended hybrid component approach for optimal flexibility, and clarified trade-offs between different e-commerce platforms‍
• Horizon Theme Implementation: Built custom storefront using Horizon theme as foundation, adapted to new Storefront V2 beta release, and created flexible framework allowing future customization‍

"Daniel's ability to guide us through complex technical decisions while respecting our need for creative control was invaluable. He helped us understand the trade-offs between different platforms and approaches, then built exactly what we needed to launch with confidence. His patience through our evolving requirements and platform shifts made the entire process feel collaborative rather than transactional."‍

—Stein Haugen, Founder, Sol Seok

FINAL RESULTS

• Delivered comprehensive platform evaluation comparing Shopify, Swell, and Medusa options
• Provided strategic guidance that saved costs by avoiding unnecessary Shopify Plus upgrade
• Built flexible framework allowing design team to maintain creative autonomy
• Established scalable foundation supporting future customization and growth
• Maintained collaborative partnership through multiple scope changes and platform decisions