Custom Apparel
B2B
Chai Tees Creates a Seamless Custom Apparel Experience with a Data-Driven E-commerce Overhaul
Founded in 2014 in North Miami Beach, Chai-Tees is a one-stop shop for fully customizable apparel, uniforms, and event merchandise. They serve schools, organizations, and businesses nationwide, pairing friendly one-on-one service with high-quality products and competitive pricing. Their growing niche audience required a digital store that could match the flexibility and creativity they offer offline.
Founded in 2014 in North Miami Beach, Chai-Tees is a one-stop shop for fully customizable apparel, uniforms, and event merchandise. They serve schools, organizations, and businesses nationwide, pairing friendly one-on-one service with high-quality products and competitive pricing. Their growing niche audience required a digital store that could match the flexibility and creativity they offer offline.
Scope Summary
The Effort
Project Management
FREE
UX/UI Design
10 hrs
Development
10 hrs
Data
15 hrs
SEO
5 hrs
Total
40 hrs
Service Model
Monthly
i
We offer three flexible service models: On Call, Project, Monthly. See our pricing page for details.
Engagement Range
$2K – $3K
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This range is provided only as a reference to help estimate similar engagements. Actual costs vary based on project scope, complexity, custom functionality, and client direction.
Theme: Cornerstone
Team Members
Project Manager
UX/UI Designer
Developer
Data Admin
SEO/GEO Specialist
Tech Stack
Figma
Klaviyo
The Challenge
Chai-Tees approached AOC looking for a fully custom product-customizer tool for their apparel line. Their vision required dynamic artwork, logo uploads, name and number customization, and detailed quote generation, all tied to a catalog with thousands of size, color, and vendor variations.
But there was a larger obstacle. Their product data was inconsistent across vendors, SKUs didn’t follow any strict rules, images varied in size and style, and customization logic wasn’t documented. Even with a custom build, the system would fail unless the underlying catalog was fully standardized.
Instead of pushing them into an expensive, months-long custom development project, we showed them a better path: implementing Zakeke, which could deliver 95 percent of what they wanted at a fraction of the cost.
Project Goals
Replace the planned custom build with a scalable Zakeke solution
Standardize product data across all vendors
Create consistent, use-ready product images for customization
Define exact customization rules for each apparel style
Implement Zakeke’s Request-a-Quote workflow
Improve homepage structure and SEO relevance
Streamline the category hierarchy for clarity
Strengthen overall product discoverability
Our Approach
We began by running a live Zakeke demo on a small group of products, showing the client how logo uploads, color changes, artwork previews, and quote requests could be fully automated. Once approved, we moved into the foundational work needed to make the system viable.
Our team consolidated product data from InkSoft, AlphaBroder, and other vendors, standardized SKUs and color mappings, and rebuilt image sets to ensure variation consistency. We then partnered with the client to define customization rules — when users can upload art, which GraphicsFlow icons to include, how names and numbers should behave, and what quote details need to appear.
With data and rules finalized, we configured Zakeke’s Request-a-Quote workflow, ensuring accuracy across all apparel categories. In parallel, we improved SEO foundations (metadata, headers, content), restructured the homepage for clearer navigation, and enhanced product discoverability.
The result: a stable, scalable personalization engine that finally matched the founder’s vision for Chai-Tees’ online Design Center.
Outcome
Chai Tees designed a winning online experience with strategic usability and SEO improvements. Addressing key challenges in their product data, SEO, and customization processes created a more user-friendly and efficient online store that is better equipped to serve their diverse customer base and showcase their wide range of customizable products.
Growth Highlights
A fully functional Zakeke workflow across customizable apparel
Streamlined quote generation for schools and organizations
Consistent product data supporting scalable personalization
A clear homepage and category structure
Stronger SEO and improved search visibility
Chai Tees first decided to use "Always Open" for website development and SEO after discussing our needs with Steve. We were assigned Vianca as our project manager, who understood the various tasks we were trying to execute and she communicated each step of the way. Most recently, we needed a few new items added to our site, and Always Open was able to get the project done in a timely manner. Highly recommend using Always Open!
- Nancy M. Owner, Chai Tees
Estimates and Timesheet
Custom Design
Theme Development
Conversion Rate Optimization
