Client

The ‘jewel in the crown’ of one of the UK’s most successful fashion groups – Mosaic Brands – Whistles creates eclectic, beautifully crafted women's fashions. This highly respected company started out in a small store in Marylebone, London, in 1976 and now has clothing stores across the UK, Ireland, the Middle East and Denmark. 

Objective

Whistles was aware of its tremendous impact on the high street but realised there was huge potential to take this online with a fully-functional e-commerce website. The challenge  was translating the company’s unique store philosophy and ‘feel’ onto a website. Whistles stores are known for their quirky, bespoke décor and dedicated customer service, and it was vital visitors to the website have the same stylish, tactile, interactive experience they love in store. Pod1 had previously worked with other brands in the Mosaic Group so was a natural choice to deliver the solution.

Solution

Pod1 evaluated in great detail the Whistles high-street shopping experience and reinterpreted this online with huge eclectic appeal. The e-commerce site features individual fashion items in high-quality multi-angled visuals that browsers can zoom in on to examine fabrics and style details, as well as view colour options, read about each style, and work out which size is just right for them. To give a real sense of personal-shopper assistance, there are also inspired suggestions as to which other items and fashion accessories might work with each outfit, as well as sections for sale items, new fashions, a ‘look book’, and a 'fashion trends’ and 'gallery’ sections with Flash design.

Result

The design of the e-commerce site was of paramount importance as it had to appeal to the highly discerning, style-savvy clientele that is accustomed to the Whistles high-street experience. The site Pod1 created is highly visual, fun, stylish, interactive and full of inspiration and information and has already proved extremely popular – keeping visitors browsing, buying and coming back for more.

[Please note: the current site has been amended so does not reflect the original creation]

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