A Unified Catalog: Ecommerce Membership Clubs on Shopify

Cashmerette is a beloved sewing pattern company that paved the way to make sewing fun and accessible for people of all sizes. Over the last decade, they built something rare. They have a loyal community of sewists who return for fit education, guidance, and support that helps them feel capable, not intimidated.

When the founder, Jenny Rushmore, came to Aeolidia for a Shopify rebuild, the goal wasn’t only to “elevate the design.” It was to evolve the experience without breaking what already worked.

In the years since Aeolidia built their previous site, Cashmerette had added Cashmerette Club. After realizing the success and potential of their membership program and with a list of pain points, they came to us to rebuild the site with the membership as a more integral part of their site. It couldn’t feel like a separate destination. It needed to be part of the store. So we focused on a few things that make an ecommerce membership or club succeed, like a clear invitation, easy discoverability, and an experience that lets you sell memberships alongside standard products without confusing shoppers.

Make the membership benefits instantly clear

Once Cashmerette Club launched, customers kept asking, “What’s included with membership, and what’s available à la carte?” Here are some of the ways we made their club feel like a natural extension of their sewing pattern catalog.

• The home page has a Club overview that quickly explains the benefits at a glance, paired with changing images that keep the page feeling exciting while you read.
• On the collection pages, we used straightforward labels and helpful callouts, so shoppers always know what’s included with the membership and what’s available as a regular pattern.
• We added several places for the Cashmerette team to include messaging that welcomes people in rather than making them feel shut out by a paywall.

One of the most practical membership best practices is to reduce the mental load for your customers. If customers have to guess what membership includes and they can’t see the benefits of joining right away, they won’t sign up.

Design product pages for members and non-members

Cashmerette’s product pages are where their membership program could shine or create confusion.

We redesigned Cashmerette’s product detail pages to feel more like modern fashion shopping but with their fit help, reviews, and support content right there.

And we made the experience membership-aware, so the same product page can communicate clearly depending on who’s shopping. Members can download included patterns from the product page, and non-members can easily spot which patterns require joining the club. Some shoppers see a gentle upgrade nudge as they browse patterns. Non-members see a clear path to join (one that feels like an invitation, not a sales pitch).

Upgrade the brand from “crafty” to fashion-forward

Since people who sew are highly visually creative customers, the homepage hero is an ideal spot to draw them in. Instead of a single wide banner, the new layout supports one or two portrait images paired with clear calls to action. It reads more like an apparel brand and gives the team flexibility to highlight new product launches.

“That was really important for them because they were moving away from wider images to more portrait fashion style photos. They were looking to fashion brands for their inspiration rather than other sewing brands,” says Christine Hughes, a designer on the project.

Christine also added custom hand-drawn icons, including details like a curvy tape measure, to keep the brand personality intact while elevating the overall design.

Put support content where customers actually need it

Customers can see the club alongside patterns, books, and classes. Fit guidance, tutorials, and sew-alongs are woven directly into the shopping journey, reinforcing Cashmerette’s expertise.

We also upgraded the sizing calculator experience, which is a tool that Cashmerette developed to help them stand out among other sewing pattern and craft companies. This sizing calculator used to just live on the website in one location where it might be missed. Now, the Cashmerette team can add it across the site, including on product pages, so customers can find their size right when it matters.

Customers love a good testimonial. So we created more room for social proof, because seeing real people in finished garments helps shoppers imagine their own success. Those customer makes aren’t just for inspiration. They link back to products.

The result: One cohesive ecommerce membership site, built to evolve

Behind the scenes, this project wasn’t just a visual refresh. We rebuilt the site so Cashmerette has more control without more work. “We upgraded the base theme to Shopify’s new theme block structure on product pages, pivotal for giving Cashmerette the control they needed to adjust and update all the tables on the product detail pages,” says Iran Mateu, developer on the project.

I just wanted to reach out with a big thank you for all the great work you did on the website, and to share the quite remarkable feedback that we’ve had from customers in the last week. In my past experience at Cashmerette and in previous corporate jobs, there’s usually some customer pushback on new websites and rebranding, or at the very least a mix of positive and ‘l Iiked it more before/why did you change my baby.’ I have been astonished at the public reception.

– Jenny, founder of Cashmerette.

Their new website has a flexible Shopify foundation with deep customization powered by metafields and metaobjects. Now the customers have an easier experience shopping and the Cashmerette team has an easier time updating their products and growing the club without needing constant developer support.

The club feels like a natural extension of the store, a welcoming space for customers to come back to the website each week, which is exactly what an ecommerce club should feel like.

So do you need one? Why ecommerce memberships are worth it

Think you want an ecommerce membership? You’ll also hear these called a Shopify membership site, a customer club, or a paid loyalty program. If you want to grow your brand, a club can help you:

• Boost customer retention with ongoing perks
• Create more predictable revenue
• Give customers a reason to come back between product launches
• Strengthen community and brand trust

When your membership club feels like part of the store, it stops being just another subscription and starts becoming the reason customers come back.

Read a detailed case study about Cashmerette’s membership club here.