Custom Shopify themes, built to last.
Shraen builds custom Shopify themes and migrates older stores to Online Store 2.0: clean Liquid, fast pages, and sections your team can run without calling a developer.
The cost of a fragile theme.
A theme is the foundation everything else in your store sits on. When it is built well, new products, pages and campaigns are quick to launch. When it is not, every change is slow, expensive and slightly risky.
The usual culprits: a premium theme stretched far beyond what it was designed for, years of edits by different developers with no record of why, a vintage theme that predates Online Store 2.0 and cannot use sections on every page or app blocks, and code copied in from tutorials that nobody fully understands.
The cost rarely shows up as one line in a budget. It shows up as campaigns that launch late, developer invoices for small changes, apps bought to work around the theme, and a store that gets a little slower every year.
Custom theme development fixes the foundation, so the store is easier to change, faster to load and safer to update.
- You are on a vintage, pre-2.0 theme
- Sections only work on the home page
- Theme updates are avoided because they break things
- Small layout changes need custom code
- Apps have injected code you cannot remove
What is built.
Whether it is a new custom theme or a migration of your current one, the same standards apply.
- 01
Online Store 2.0 migration
Vintage themes are moved to the Online Store 2.0 architecture: JSON templates, sections on every page, app blocks and metafield-driven content, with your design and content carried across and URLs kept intact.
- 02
Custom sections
Features specific to your brand, such as size guides, bundles, comparison tables or lookbooks, are built as native sections with clear settings, not added through another app.
- 03
Metafields and metaobjects
Product details, ingredients, care instructions and specifications are structured as metafields and metaobjects, so they are entered once and shown consistently everywhere.
- 04
Performance and accessibility
Images are served responsively, JavaScript is limited to what each page needs, and markup follows accessibility good practice, with keyboard support, sufficient contrast and proper labels.
- 05
Version control and handover
The theme lives in Git with a written changelog. Your team gets a short guide to the sections and settings, and any developer you hire later can pick it up.
The offer: start with a Storefront Sprint.
Theme work can start small. A Storefront Sprint builds one custom section, migrates one template or fixes one fragile part of your theme, scoped up front and shipped in one to two weeks, paid 50% upfront and 50% on delivery. Full custom themes and Online Store 2.0 migrations are scoped as Storefront projects after a short call.
- Liquid, JSON templates and sections
- Online Store 2.0 migration
- Custom sections instead of extra apps
- Git, changelog and handover guide
- Fast, accessible front end
Questions, answered.
Anything else, ask on the call.
What is Online Store 2.0?
Shopify's current theme architecture. It lets you add and rearrange sections on every page, not just the home page, use app blocks instead of pasted code, and drive content from metafields. Themes built before it are known as vintage themes.
Should I migrate my vintage theme or start again?
It depends on how much of the current theme is worth keeping. If the design works and the code is reasonable, a migration keeps both. If the theme has been heavily patched, a clean rebuild is often quicker and cheaper over time. You get a straight recommendation after a review.
Do you build headless Shopify stores?
Shraen also builds with Next.js and React, so headless is possible. For most brands turning over £1m to £10m, a well-built Online Store 2.0 theme is faster to ship, cheaper to run and easier for the team to manage, and that is usually the recommendation.
Will I own the theme code?
Yes. The theme is built in your Shopify store and kept in a Git repository you have access to. There is no lock-in.
Can you work on a theme someone else built?
Yes. Most theme work starts with someone else's code. It is reviewed first, the risky parts are flagged, and changes are made in a way that leaves it cleaner than before rather than adding another layer of patches.
Let's build your store on solid ground.
Tell me what's holding your store back. I'll tell you honestly whether it's a two-week fix or a bigger project.