PAL Sporting Goods

Un-hyped on purpose 

Founded by Penny and Poyan Rahimzadeh, PAL Sporting Goods has always been driven by the values of togetherness and play. It’s the kind of brand that doesn’t care for trends, but does care if your hoodie lasts ten years, and still looks cool when your kid steals it. A little street, a lot of sport, and a philosophy where quality always wins. The fit is boxy and the message is timeless.

On a mission to inspire generations to play in style - indoors, outdoors, up the slopes or out on the water, it doesn’t matter where. PAL is a family-first brand built on the simple love of the game and connection beats competition every time. With a growing audience and limited resources, they needed a storefront that could match their vision. The brief was clean: migrate from Lightspeed to Shopify - quickly - and build a digital home that evolves with the brand. 

We were lucky enough to have PAL talk about their Shopify migration at our recent Ask Phill and Friends event - What’s next in commerce for 2025. There, they shared quotes that truly speak to our strategy - and here’s the full story. 

Challenge: Bored in the digital playground and time for a fresh setup

PAL’s previous platform, Lightspeed, felt restrictive both visually and operationally. Campaign content was boxed into awkward templates. The upload process was slow, fragile, and time-consuming. The site navigation didn’t reflect how the brand moved in real life. And the backend? Too complex for a lean team juggling ecommerce, creative, fulfilment, and wholesale.

The website was supposed to be an extension of the brand, a technical backbone for creativity, so that climbing Mont Blanc for a campaign shoot - actually felt worth it. When a brand like PAL invests heavily in design and story, the disconnect starts to show and a need for a smarter platform rears its heads - one that can match pace and make efforts feel seen.

Key challenges:

• Outdated platform restricting content, creativity, and operations

• SKU mismatches creating fulfillment issues

• Backend complexity slowing down a small team

• No room to highlight campaigns or brand narrative

• Limited support for future scalability

“We were struggling to fit in our content. That’s a deal breaker.” - Penny Rahimzadeh

Solution: Fast lane migration to Shopify 

We migrated PAL from Lightspeed to Shopify in just six weeks - no mess, no downtime. All their product data was in a single description field. We split up the data in different product metafields, assigned it to different collapsible tabs on the PDP (Description, Sizing, Materials) for a cleaner look and stronger UX. Every detail was migrated seamlessly - it was the platform swap that unlocked PAL’s creative potential.

Behind the scenes, we collaborated closely with PAL’s fulfillment partner Picqer to fix critical SKU mismatches that could’ve broken inventory flows. These weren’t edge cases - they were real operational blockers. But with fast communication and careful mapping, we cleaned the data, aligned systems, and removed the pain points that were slowing the team down.

“It was smooth. The Ask Phill team handled the entire Shopify migration, cleaned up our data, and fixed SKU mismatches with Picqer to ensure everything worked perfectly.” - Yasmina, Ecommerce Manager

The feel good frontend.

PAL didn’t want a “clever” site - they wanted a clean one. Functional, flexible, and full of personality. Starting with Shopify’s Dawn theme, we built a custom frontend that felt distinctly PAL: easy to navigate, quietly playful and totally intentional.

We added a drawer menu featuring icon-based navigation, built-in product grammage badges (like 550grm), a custom collection selector on the homepage, and a lookbook layout to bring new drops to life. Every tweak made room for more story. More clarity. More brand.

It was important that we didn’t over-design the storefront, but push it just enough with a smart CSS, subtle layout changes, and the right use of visuals to communicate PAL’s tone of voice and product details without overwhelming the experience. 

“We didn’t want to be overruled by what ‘statistically works.’ That makes generic websites. This felt like us.” - Penny Rahimzadeh

A stack that works 

PAL runs on a lean team. They needed a site they could manage themselves. So we made sure the backend was friction-free and intuitive - no need to constantly call in a dev just to change a banner or update stock.

Now, uploading content is smoother and managing collections is faster. The B2B integration works in sync with the rest of the stack and the whole site stays aligned with PAL’s standards, no matter who’s behind the screen. Shopify gave them the tools, and we designed the workflow to match their pace.

“Shopify just lets us get on with it. And with Ask Phill fixed problems before they became blockers.” - Penny Rahimzadeh

No compromises. Just clarity.

What’s rare is that PAL didn’t have to sacrifice identity to gain performance. In fact, the new build gave them more freedom to express who they are. They could finally show campaigns the way they were intended. Let the message land, the product details shine and the homepage be timeless instead of a fleeting vibe.

Now, product pages are filled with playful copy. Menus have hand-drawn doodles. The brand voice is loud and clear - and it doesn’t feel forced. Because PAL knows their audience. And their audience knows exactly what they’re about.

Implementation highlights:

• Flawless migration of products, collections, apps, and metaobjects

• Cleaned and updated product data for seamless Shopify import

• SKU corrections implemented in collaboration with Picqer

• Frontend development completed in under four days

• Lookbook layout added to feature collection storytelling

• Content upload and management significantly streamlined for the team

Play on PAL! 

In six weeks, PAL Sporting Goods went from boxed-in to breaking through. With the right tools, thoughtful execution, and close collaboration, PAL now has a digital home that performs like it should, and feels exactly how it’s meant to.

If you’re ready to scale your brand without losing what makes you different, we’re ready to help.

Let’s build something together.