With so many ecommerce websites on the WWW it can be very difficult to find something unique and sexy while being user intuitive.  But every once in a while a gem like Shirtlisted, Inc. comes shining through the rough.  It was a must that we took some time to visit with co-founder of Shirtlisted, Inc. Van Phan, who happens to be the developer and designer for the company's website as well.

• Hello! Who are you? What’s your company? How’d you get started in web development or with your business?

  

  I am the co-founder of Shirtlisted, Inc. We provide an easy process for you to customize and order a high-quality custom-fitted dress shirt.
  
  I got started in web development through the print world. Graduated with a Graphic Design degree and did some brand and identity work. Then transition into an ad agency and finally into web development. Although I only consider myself as a front-end person, mainly playing with HTML/CSS and some JavaScript/jQuery/PHP.
  
  Starting this business is similar to most businesses—we are our first customers. The products we're delivering are readily available in the market but price and the process of getting the products is a little prohibiting so we're bringing an affordable and simpler ordering process for this product.
• Could you describe this project? What was the goal? What was the vision?

  The vision for this project was to create a simple, easy to understand process for a user to customize and order a tailor-fitted dress shirt. We started off with a big list of steps and then quickly consolidated and eliminated unnecessary steps.
  
  Along with consolidating steps we limited the choices that are available because we feel strongly that too many choices can be quite intimidating and it can be overwhelming for the user. At the same time, we didn't want to be too limiting so we left an option for the user to give us specifics if the user happens to know exactly what he wants.
  
  We are close to our goal of creating that simple process to order a customize shirt, but we will be iterating to get the UI to be a lot more wholesome, so look for a slight modification in the near future.

• What were your roles and responsibilities in this project?

  I was the designer and developer for this project.
• How’d you find FoxyCart, and what need or problem drove you to choose FoxyCart over other options?

  I came across FoxyCart through a video from Chris Coyier at css-tricks.com. Chris showcased how easy FoxyCart was to implement and when I saw that single page checkout, it immediately wowed me.

• How was FoxyCart able to meet the need or problem?

  Since my experience with back-end developing is quite limiting, I needed something that was fairly easy to implement. FoxyCart provided that easy implementation that I was looking for where I don’t have to deal too much with a back-end system or conform into a CMS.
• What was your experience with using FoxyCart?

  The experience using FoxyCart was simple. It was something that I didn't worry about while developing our website and quite frankly, I didn't think about it until we were close to launching.

• What surprised you about working with FoxyCart?

  The thing that surprised me with working FoxyCart is that although it is simple system, you can actually do a lot of customization if you need it. For example, we wanted to implement a coupon but not on the cart but during checkout. The admin system did not allow for this but with a little help in the forum, we were able to implement the coupon system with JavaScript. It is actually similar to what we do, easy to customize for the novice user but not limiting for the advanced users. We just deliver different products.
  
  Also, the coupon system is quite advanced. Some shopping cart coupon system is quite limiting that it only allows for percentage off while FoxyCart allows a whole lot more.
• What would you say to other Developers/Designers/Merchants who are looking for an ecommerce solution?

  If you're looking for an easy shopping cart to implement with just a few lines of code, FoxyCart is the easiest solution. The moderators in the forum are very helpful and replies rather quickly to questions. The great thing I like about FoxyCart was I was able to test out the entire system in developer mode so I know it would essentially work in my situation before having to spend money to test out a system.