Re-tailoring a Scottish institution for modern commerce.
8 Yards has been outfitting Scotland in handcrafted highland wear since 1991. We migrated their entire store from Visualsoft to Shopify in just three months — rebuilding the experience from the ground up while preserving every product, customer record, and SEO signal that made the brand a Scottish institution.
Scotland's trusted name in highland wear, since 1991.
Founded in Musselburgh on the East coast of Scotland, 8 Yards (formerly The Kilt Hire Co) has spent more than three decades outfitting Scots and visitors alike in beautifully crafted kilts, jackets, suits and accessories. From a single shop so small you could touch both walls at once, the business now operates flagship stores in Edinburgh, Musselburgh and Dundee, plus a central warehouse in Dalkeith.
The name itself is a nod to the eight yards of fabric traditionally needed to make a quality kilt — a quiet promise of craft, tradition and timeless sartorial style that customers have trusted across generations.
A heritage business, ready for a modern platform.
Visualsoft had served 8 Yards well, but the team needed a platform that could keep pace with their multi-store operation, custom hire workflow and ambitious growth plans. The brief was clear: move to Shopify, redesign the experience, and don't break a single thing along the way.
Three-month timeline
A non-negotiable launch window driven by seasonal trade and kilt hire demand.
Zero data left behind
Every product, customer, review and SEO signal had to land safely on the new platform.
Custom hire, simplified
A bespoke kilt hire checkout — date pickers, sizing and stock — without compromising standard Shopify checkout.
Performance data, landing soon.
The new store is live and trading. We're now collecting a clean baseline of post-launch data to share alongside CBS Power Tools, Pheelgood and our other Shopify migration case studies.
Conversion rate uplift
Measured against the same period on the legacy Visualsoft store.
Revenue growth
Total revenue change once a full trading cycle is in the books.
Average order value
How the redesigned product and checkout flow lifts basket size.
★ This case study will be updated once we have a meaningful post-launch trading window. Watch this space.
A complete replatform, start to finish.
Fourteen workstreams, organised into six tightly-run delivery groups, executed in twelve weeks.
Platform & Migration
2 workstreamsVisualsoft → Shopify migration
End-to-end replatform delivered in 12 weeks, with zero downtime on cutover.
800+ URL redirects on go-live
Full 301 redirect map authored to protect rankings through the URL structure change.
Design & User Experience
2 workstreamsRedesign of all key page types
Homepage, category, product and checkout — each rebuilt around 8 Yards' heritage brand.
20+ customer email templates
Order confirmations, shipping, hire reminders and more — redesigned and updated to brand.
Data Migration
4 workstreams200+ categories migrated
Full taxonomy and SEO metadata moved across, with zero category collapse on launch.
750+ products migrated
Variants, imagery, descriptions and SEO data — every SKU mapped cleanly to Shopify.
Information pages
About, FAQ, delivery, measurement guide — content and SEO carried over intact.
Product & customer reviews
Years of social proof preserved and re-attributed to matching products on Shopify.
Integrations
4 workstreamsXero accounting integration
Live order & invoice sync into Xero — eliminating manual reconciliation overhead.
eBay store integration
Inventory and order flow connected so eBay listings stay in lockstep with Shopify.
Google Shopping feed
Feed configured and validated, opening up Performance Max and Shopping campaigns.
ShipStation integration
Multi-carrier despatch automated — orders flow from Shopify to ShipStation seamlessly.
Custom Functionality
2 workstreamsCustom kilt hire checkout
Bespoke flow with date picker, size selector and hire-specific logic — all on Shopify checkout.
Click & collect across 4 locations
Per-store stock visibility and pickup flows for Edinburgh, Musselburgh, Dundee and Dalkeith.
From legacy Visualsoft, to modern Shopify.
A side-by-side look at the journeys customers walk every day — rebuilt for clarity, speed and confidence at every step.
Built on best-in-class commerce tooling.
Want a Shopify migration that respects your heritage?
If you're staring down a Visualsoft, Magento or BigCommerce migration and worried about data, SEO or downtime — book a free 45-minute consultation. We'll talk through your timeline, stack and risks, then show you how we'd approach it.
