volkorn / case studies / direct fabrics
development • magento • hyvä • custom modules • b2b • uk

direct fabrics — b2b commerce, tailored like their curtains

From end-of-life Magento 1 to Magento 2 with a deeply customized Hyvä frontend and a wardrobe of custom Hyvä-compatible modules — and the partnership is still going, now shipping AI solutions.

client
Direct Fabrics
industry
Flame-retardant fabrics, B2B
stack
Magento 2 + Custom Hyvä
status
Ongoing partnership
scroll ↓
// the client • when fabric safety is the business

serious products. a not-so-serious platform.

🔥 who they are

the uk's flame-retardant specialists

Direct Fabrics supplies certified flame-retardant fabrics, curtains, blinds and tracks to hotels, schools, healthcare and the public sector across the UK — with made-to-measure manufacturing, nationwide installation and compliance certificates on every product.

A textbook complex B2B catalog: quotes as a core sales channel, trade accounts, customer-specific pricing, and products with dozens of configurable dimensions.

01 / challenge

magento 1, long past its bedtime

The store ran on Magento 1 years after end-of-life: no security patches, brittle extensions, and a frontend losing mobile buyers.

  • unsupported platform carrying real b2b revenue
  • custom quoting & pricing logic nobody dared touch
  • large made-to-measure catalog with compliance data
  • zero tolerance for downtime or seo losses
0
lost during migration
0
custom hyvä-compatible modules
0
mobile lighthouse performance
0
and counting — still partners
// the solution • a hyvä theme cut to measure

not a theme install. a tailoring job.

Hyvä out of the box is fast. Direct Fabrics needed fast and deeply custom — so we built the missing pieces ourselves, every one of them Hyvä-compatible. Watch the seam stitch them together as you scroll.

📐

made-to-measure configurator

Width, drop, heading, lining — complex product options priced live, without page reloads.

custom module
📋

quote request engine

Cart-to-quote flow for trade buyers: request, negotiate, convert to order — all in Magento.

custom module
🏷️

customer-specific pricing

Trade accounts see their negotiated prices across catalog, search and checkout.

custom module
📜

compliance certificates

Fire-safety documentation attached to products and orders — auditable, downloadable.

custom module
✂️

sample ordering

Free fabric samples as a first-class flow — the store's strongest lead magnet.

custom module
🚚

delivery & installation

Nationwide installation booking and delivery estimates wired into checkout.

custom module
🔎

trade-grade search

Search tuned for how contract buyers actually look: by spec, standard and use case.

hyvä compat
⚡

checkout, streamlined

A Hyvä checkout adapted for both card-paying SMBs and invoice-based public sector.

hyvä compat
🤖

ai content & automation

The current chapter: AI-assisted product content, internal automation and SEO pipelines.

in progress
🔒 direct-fabrics.co.uk
direct-fabrics.co.uk storefront — Magento 2 + custom Hyvä, built by Volkorn
live storefront • magento 2 + custom hyvä • built by volkorn
the storefront

b2b muscle under a fast, friendly skin

Quick quotes, free samples, trust signals and a mega-menu built for spec-driven buyers — rendered by a Tailwind + Alpine.js frontend that stays light no matter how much business logic sits behind it.

Every custom feature was built Hyvä-compatible from day one, so upgrades don't turn into rewrites.

google lighthouse · mobile

0
beforemagento 1
0
aftercustom hyvä

mobile page load — before vs after

magento 1 storefront0.0s
magento 2 + hyvä storefront0.0s
// representative field metrics; exact figures available on request during a call
“
”
★★★★★
Work was completed to a high standard with exceptional knowledge of Magento 2. I have been very impressed with Volkorn — well-rounded knowledge, able to solve the various issues quickly and on time, and tell me the way to move forward with my project.
Edward SimonCEO, Direct Fabrics
// the partnership • the line fills as you scroll — and it hasn't ended

from rescue mission to long-term crew

phase 01 · audit

untangling magento 1

Full audit of the legacy store: custom quoting logic, extensions, catalog structure and SEO assets — mapped before touching anything.

phase 02 · replatform

magento 2 + custom hyvä build

New Magento 2 backend and a Hyvä frontend customized far beyond the theme defaults — design, components and flows built around B2B buying.

phase 03 · modules

the missing pieces, built in-house

15+ custom Hyvä-compatible modules: made-to-measure configurator, quoting, trade pricing, compliance docs, samples, installation booking.

phase 04 · launch

zero-downtime go-live

SEO-safe URL mapping, verified data migration, and a switch the customers only noticed because everything got faster.

phase 05 · now

still shipping — business & ai solutions

The partnership continues: new business features every quarter, and an AI roadmap in progress — AI-assisted content generation, internal automation and SEO/GEO pipelines.

good partners don't just launch.
they stay in orbit

// your turn • stuck on magento 1 or an off-the-rack theme?

let's discuss your project

Tell us where your store is today — we'll map the safest, fastest route to where it should be. Free audit, itemized estimate, no pressure.

Book a call ↗ Request a free audit ↗