A deep taxonomy and a shallow navigation are in direct opposition, and resolving that was most of the build.
5
US flagship stores
alongside the online channel
20+
Category routes per range
before collections branch again
2
Template systems
shop and journal, side by side
The problem
Men's and women's ranges each branch into clothing, accessories, snow and motorcycle lines, then branch again into collections and product types. That is a deep taxonomy by the time you reach an actual product.
Navigation has to stay shallow anyway. A customer will not click through four levels to find a jacket, so the structure underneath has to be deep while the path through it stays short.
What we did
Built in React and Next.js against a headless commerce backend: collection and product templates, cart and checkout, and the Insider membership tier.
The Journal runs long-form editorial beside the shop. Keeping those as two template systems rather than forcing editorial into product templates is what stops either one compromising the other: a lookbook and a product grid want opposite things from a layout.
The outcome
The storefront carries a multi-level taxonomy across both ranges without the navigation deepening, and the Journal publishes alongside the shop on its own templates.
Frontend
Commerce
Backend
What we learned
Depth of taxonomy and depth of navigation are separate decisions. Treating them as the same thing is why large catalogues end up unusable.
Give editorial its own templates. Commerce templates will always win the compromise, and the editorial becomes pointless.
Thirty minutes with the engineer who would lead the project. You will leave with an opinion on what to build, what to skip, and roughly what it costs, whether or not you hire us.
2 build slots open · Next start: early next month
What happens next