How Frictitious Climbing built a fully custom Shopify store

Frictitious Climbing is a rapidly growing brand, offering high-quality climbing training gear. As their customer base expanded, it became clear that their original Shopify site wasn’t keeping up with their needs. It was simple and functional but lacked the polish and depth they needed to present themselves as an established brand.

More importantly, their flagship product required customers to make sizing and measurement decisions before purchasing. This meant the product page had to balance detailed information with ease of use, educating customers without overwhelming them. 

With these priorities in mind, Art Director Jacob Collins set out to build a better online store. Using Instant, he created a fully custom Shopify site that not only looked great but also functioned seamlessly across devices.

Creating a custom shopping experience with Instant

From the start, Frictitious Climbing knew they wanted full control over their site’s design and functionality. Instead of working within the limitations of standard Shopify themes, they built every element of their store with Instant.

"We went fully custom—nearly every element on our site from front to back is created in Instant," Jacob explains.

One of their key challenges was presenting complex sizing information for their Doorway Mount product without overwhelming shoppers. 

To fix this, they implemented a strategic use of dropdowns and pop-ups that only revealed additional details when the customer needed them.

Here’s what this looks like in action on their Shopify PDP: 

"Our logic was to only show that info when the customer asks for it, rather than frontloading it as soon as they load the page," Jacob says.

This streamlined approach kept the product page clean while still providing all the necessary information, improving the shopping experience, and reducing confusion.

Performance and aesthetics: No compromises

A common challenge with highly customized Shopify sites is balancing design flexibility with performance. However, Instant made it easy for Frictitious Climbing to achieve both.

"Instant made it so easy to create a nice-looking store that also functions amazingly across all breakpoints," Jacob says. "Even with all of the design elements I could have wanted, our already fast loading times stayed the same."

The impact: A more professional brand and higher conversions

The results of the new site design were clear almost immediately. Frictitious Climbing saw an increase in all key metrics, and, just as importantly, their site now reflected the quality and professionalism of their brand.

"It feels great actually presenting as a more established brand and standing out in the industry," Jacob shares.

One of their biggest goals was to reduce the number of customer inquiries about measurements and fitment. The new product page layout, built in Instant, successfully streamlined the decision-making process, leading to a decrease in customer chats and emails while improving their conversion rate! 

Advice for other Shopify merchants

For brands considering a fully custom Shopify store, Jacob’s advice is simple: 

"Just do it. Instant is an absolute joy to work with; very intuitive, great integration with Shopify, and the features they add on a regular basis are constantly improving what we can do with our site."

Frictitious Climbing’s experience highlights how Instant enables brands to create highly customized, high-performing Shopify stores without the need for complex development. By focusing on user experience and smart design choices, they built a store that not only looks great but also helps customers shop with confidence.

Build your own custom Shopify store with Instant

If you're looking to take your Shopify store to the next level, Instant makes it easy to build a fully customized, high-converting storefront—without the need for a developer. 

Whether you're starting fresh or upgrading an existing store, Instant gives you the flexibility and power to design exactly what you need.

Hire an official Instant Expert

Want expert help? Jacob Collins, the Art Director behind Frictitious Climbing’s site, is a certified Instant Expert and is available on Contra to help other brands bring their vision to life with Instant. Get in touch with Jacob or start building your store today!