One agency asked for a tool. We built the architecture that turned it into a platform

1,000+

designs in the catalog

25+

studios onboarded

20K+

in design sales value

Platfora is a branded showroom for the print and textile industry. It isn’t a rented marketplace. Studios and independent artists publish exclusive collections on their own subdomains, while agents curate, connect, and sell through a vetted, approval-based network. Editorial mockups and zoom-scale previews present each print the way buyers judge it, and live sales analytics replace spreadsheet tracking.

One agency asked for a tool. We built the architecture that turned it into a platform

Industry

Textile
Print design
E-commerce
SaaS

Provided services

Product ownership & management
Web development
Frontend engineering
Backend engineering
UI/UX design
Subscription & billing (Stripe, PayPal)
DevOps
QA

Challenge

An outdated rented marketplace in an industry where presentation is the product

Textile and print design is a visually demanding business. Buyers judge a print on the right mockup at the correct scale in the proper context. Studios and independent artists create exclusive collections, and agents curate and present them to buyers. The whole trade runs on curation, exclusivity, and how the work looks to a client.

Our client understood this better than anyone. She was already selling design patterns, but had to do so through an outdated third-party multi-tenant marketplace. Every time she logged in, it felt slow, dated, and rigid. Worse, it wasn’t hers. She couldn’t shape the interface, refine how collections appeared, or grow the tool to fit how she worked.

In a field where buyers judge a print by how it’s shown, a generic rented tool undersold the work and capped the business’s potential. The first goal was to replace it with a private marketplace she owned, lighter, faster, modern, and hers to shape.

A Platfora print worn as a dress on a coastal walkway, shown at the scale and context buyers judge it in

Solution

We built it for one agency. It was ready for many

The marketplace started as a private, approval-based system structured around agencies, studios, customers, and a super admin. Studios upload and manage their patterns. The agency invites studios, curates collections, and approves customers. Buyers reach the designs only after registration and approval, and this gate is the point. It keeps the marketplace exclusive and controlled, as this corner of the industry trades.

Once it went live, the model proved itself. The roles, data isolation, and approval flow we’d designed for a single agency held up so well that the next step became obvious. The product shifted from a one-agency marketplace to a true multi-tenant platform. Now any agency can spin up its own isolated marketplace on its own subdomain, invite its own studios and customers, and run its sales process without touching anyone else’s space.

This shift turned a tool into a business. We added subscription billing for 3 studio and 1 agency plans, powered by Stripe and PayPal. For the first time, the client had a recurring revenue stream instead of just a sales channel. Through all of this, the interface stayed deliberately simple. Studios describe uploading a collection as clean, fast, and intuitive, which matters when every user is a designer who judges the product by its appearance.

Features

Every feature makes the print look the way it’s meant to be sold

Every feature answers the same question the old tool couldn’t: how do you sell an exclusive print the way it deserves to be sold?

Branded showrooms with your own URL. Every studio and agent gets a unique subdomain and a fully branded marketplace. Buyers land in their world from the first click.
Presentation built for print. Editorial-style garment mockups, zoom-and-scale previews, and seamless repeat presentation, so a design is shown as it would be used.
A buyer experience that closes. Fast search and filtering, wishlist and mood-board tools, multi-currency checkout (GBP, AUD, USD, EUR) via Stripe and PayPal, and instant file delivery. No emails back and forth.
An agent-studio network with built-in access control. Agencies approve or restrict buyers, control which designs are visible to whom, and connect with studios directly from the dashboard. No cold pitching or open access.
A commission engine for agencies. Custom commission percentages per studio, with real-time tracking and studio-by-studio breakdown.
Sales intelligence instead of spreadsheets. Buyer analytics and sales reporting show what’s selling and who’s buying.

Result

What was built for one agency now runs as a business

Platfora is live and in use by agencies, studios, and customers, with paid subscriptions and proven design sales. The catalog has passed 1,000 designs, more than 25 studios are onboarded, and the marketplace has generated over $20K in design sales value across 405 registered customers. Two agency tenants are active, a third is onboarding, and four subscription plans run on Stripe and PayPal.

It took almost 2 years to get there, from first discovery to a live multi-tenant platform, delivered by a team that peaked at 9: a product owner, two front-end and two back-end engineers, QA, DevOps, and two designers.

“Platfora, a place I never knew existed and somehow now can’t live without. The clean backend makes showcasing my designs a simple process, without compromising an elevated presentation”
Kendall Layt
Kendall Layt Print Studio
“Platfora has an intentional curation. It allows us to be represented by agents who truly value our work, giving us confidence that our designs are always presented in the right context, alongside some of the best studios in the world.”
Amanda Oliveira
OLIVE Studio
“The uploading process has been seamless: clean, fast & intuitive. The mockups are excellent; fashion-forward and elegant, providing the perfect canvas for print previews. We value having a curated digital space that reaffirms our identity as a studio.”
Estefania Zuñiga
Tierra Caliente Studio

What’s next

While the team got smaller, the roadmap didn’t

The team is now 5 people, signaling a shift from pure build mode to growth. Our focus has moved to new things:

Third-party integrations
Upsell tools
Email marketing and follow-up systems
Pantone color recognition
AI-powered features for design preview and color matching

The foundation we built for a single agency now supports two live tenants, a third onboarding, and a roadmap that keeps expanding on top of it.

Let's talk

If you are building something meaningful and need a team you can rely on, we are ready to step in. Tell us what you are working on or book a call when it suits you.