A faith-built streetwear drop, made to sell on a phone

CM1 Apparel is a faith-based streetwear brand built around college basketball player Cameron Mercadel. Its first tee was already selling on Shopify, but the store looked like a default starter theme: no story, unpolished photos, and buying details below the fold on phones, where most visitors arrive from Instagram and TikTok. The brief was to make CM1 read like an established brand and turn that phone traffic into sales.

I led the redesign from strategy to launch. I planned the store as a short path, home page to product page to checkout, with the drop and clear sizing up front and Cameron’s story one tap away. I wrote every page of copy, created the product and lifestyle imagery, and made the hero video that opens the store. A Shopify developer built the custom theme to my brief, and I directed each round of review.

The details that make one tee feel like a brand:

• A hero video to open the drop: a 14-second cut set to music that plays behind the headline the moment the home page loads.
• AI-assisted product imagery: 18 product shots, six per colorway, made without a photo shoot, plus the lifestyle images that carry the home page.
• A product page built for phones: color and adult or youth size pickers right under the gallery, and a sticky add-to-cart bar that follows the shopper down the page.
• Sizing without guesswork: a size guide with adult and youth charts and a straight answer on youth XL versus adult S.
• The message, given room: 2 Corinthians 5:7, the verse behind the design, gets a section of its own, faith-forward without preaching.
• Next-drop alerts: an email signup catches shoppers who aren’t ready to buy yet.

The redesigned store is live at cm1apparel.com, selling Drop 001 in three colorways and in adult and youth sizes, with Cameron’s story told in his own words.