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eCommerce Websites

Genuine Guide Gear

By Catalin Zorzini  /  September 11, 2026

G3, the trading name of Genuine Guide Gear Inc., is a Canadian backcountry ski and splitboard brand selling touring bindings, skis and splitboards, climbing skins, poles, avalanche safety tools and related accessories through a Shopify storefront. The catalogue runs deep, one filtered category alone lists 92 products, and a site-wide banner advertises up to 60 percent off clearance stock. Orders ship from a Canadian warehouse, and the checkout discloses cross-border duties on shipments to the US.

Website Design

White pages, a navy footer. Shop, product and checkout pages run white with black text and a black promo bar, while the footer switches to a dark navy panel, with the red G3 mark as the one strong color note carried through both.

No branded typeface. The site’s own stylesheet sets body and heading text to the system font stack rather than loading a custom face, letting product photography and the red logo do the styling work instead of type.

A dense filter sidebar. The gear grid exposes filters for availability, price, model, product type, brake width, length adjustment, material, pole type, skin pack, specialty, release value and skin type, a facet list built for shoppers who already know their specs.

Shopping Experience

Sale tags across the grid. Many listings carry a red Sale badge with the original price struck through next to the discounted one and a percent saved, rather than a plain single price.

Spec sheets built into the product page. Below the buy box, a Tech Specs table lists length options, weight in both kilograms and pounds, and release value, with downloadable PDF manuals for operating, mounting and brake instructions.

Named testimony, not anonymous reviews. A pull quote on the ZED 12 page is credited to “Marty Schaffer, ACMG Ski Guide and G3 Athlete,” sitting beside a row of third-party award badges including Blister Recommended Gear.

Duties disclosed at checkout. Alongside Shop and Google Pay express buttons, the order summary carries a Duties note explaining that a fee applies to orders shipped from the Canadian warehouse to the US to comply with export tariffs.

Brand Storytelling

Copy written as short commands. The ZED 12 page headline reads “GO LIGHTER. GO FURTHER. GO HARD.,” a style repeated across the product line rather than descriptive marketing sentences.

Iteration stated over invention. Product copy explains development as refinement, not a clean-sheet launch: “Starting from the proven platform of the ION, we looked at every level, every mechanism, and every screw.”

Guides named as users. The credentialed athlete quote, paired with the Find a Dealer link kept visible on the same page, positions the product as gear used and recommended by working mountain guides.

Notable Features

Retail and wholesale share one footer. Find a Dealer sits beside Pro Purchase, Dealer Assets and B2B Ordering Registration, serving consumer, retail and wholesale buyers from the same navigation column.

Reviews that accept photos and video. The Customer Reviews module shows a star histogram next to Write a Review and Ask a Question buttons, with a row of customer-submitted photo and video thumbnails beneath.

Five social channels in the footer. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Vimeo icons sit next to a CAD dollar currency selector, reflecting the brand’s Canadian base.

Genuine Guide Gear Shop page example

Genuine Guide Gear Product page example

Genuine Guide Gear Checkout page example

Genuine Guide Gear footer example

JACK & JONES

By Catalin Zorzini  /  March 7, 2017

The story of JACK & JONES begins with its foundation in 1989, but the new competitor in Scandinavian and European men’s fashion really makes an entrance in 1990 when BESTSELLER sends a young, fiery soul to the Oslo fashion fair with a modest, but carefully chosen collection aimed at young men. The reception exceeds all expectations and the creation of a new menswear brand is a reality.

UPstream

By Catalin Zorzini  /  September 11, 2026

UPstream International is a Christian non-profit working in Cité Soleil, Haiti with local partners who run schools, feeding programmes and emergency relief. What it sells is giving rather than goods: classroom sponsorships, named funds and recurring memberships, handled as products with prices, a cart and a checkout. The site runs on Givecloud, and the header states a merger, “Upstream + Proco being UNITED now gives us even more opportunity for impact”.

Website Design

Montserrat over Open Sans. Headings use Montserrat, set in caps for section labels such as WE ASSIST, WE BUILD, WE EDUCATE and WE NOURISH, with Open Sans carrying body copy. The type does little work beyond separating levels.

A four-colour palette on a Bootstrap grid. Primary is a steel blue #4e6878 with a deeper slate #254151 for panels and footers, terracotta #d35447 for donate buttons and mustard #eec857 for highlights. Layout is a standard Bootstrap 4 container, so sections stack as full-width bands.

Photography carries the argument. Almost every band pairs a short statement with a documentary photograph of students, meals or classrooms, and partner biographies use portraits rather than stock imagery.

Shopping Experience

A funds page that behaves like a catalogue. Funds and Causes lists eight entries, among them the Cité Soleil Community School Fund, Better Than Bullets, an Emergency Relief Fund and a meal fund, each with a View link and an Add to Cart button. Where a range applies it is printed on the card, $5.00 to $50.00 for one and $0.00 to $300.00 for classroom sponsorship.

Frequency chosen before amount. The give box opens with a frequency row of One-Time, Annually, Monthly and Quarterly, then a payment day selector offering the 1st or the 15th, a currency selector and a first-payment-today toggle.

Dedication built into the cart. Before adding, a donor can dedicate the gift In Memory or In Honor, name the individual, and enter a recipient so a notice and personal message are emailed.

A full commerce checkout. Billing collects individual or organisation details, offers card, bank transfer, PayPal and saved methods, and adds a Keep me anonymous checkbox and a How did you hear about us field. Accounts open with a password, through Google, Microsoft or Facebook, or by login link.

Brand Storytelling

Local leadership as the stated model. The positioning line is “we help people who are helping people”, and the approach section has Haitian leaders assess community needs first, under the heading “Community Needs, Community Created Solutions”.

Partners given full biographies. Four named Haitian partners each get a portrait and several paragraphs of life history, including a founder described as serving the same school for more than fifteen years.

Sponsorship change explained. A long passage sets out why individual child sponsorship was replaced with classroom sponsorship, citing family displacement and staff workload.

Notable Features

A tiered giving club. The Five Dollar Fight Club sells single, five-member and ten-member monthly memberships at $5, $25 and $50, packaging group giving as one product.

Financial disclosure in the footer. A Gift Acceptance Policy sits beside a Financials link that resolves to the organisation’s IRS Form 990 filing.