Vorssa Ink theme redesign: a new look and a 69% lighter store

Vorssa Ink makes big, lightweight statement earrings in Forssa, Finland. The store had run on the same theme for years, and the look and menus no longer felt like the brand. In October 2026 it got a new theme and was cleaned up at the same time.

Where it started

The old theme worked, but it looked dated and the menus made it hard to find the right kind of jewellery. Over the years the theme had collected code from apps that were no longer used. A free gift in the cart also ran on a separate paid app.

What we did

• A new Impact theme built from the designer’s mock-up: a new home page and a look that fits the brand.
• A mega menu with images. Every collection has a picture next to it, and the merchant can change the menu image from the collection’s settings.
• Clearer collection pages. The description shows a short intro first and the rest behind a “Read more” button. Colour filters show the real colours.
• The free gift runs on the theme’s own feature, so one monthly app fee is gone.
• Clean-up. Every app and script was checked, and code from unused apps was removed from the theme. One old, unused script alone loaded 9.5 MB on the home page.

Everything was built in a development theme first. The merchant and the designer saw each change in the preview and edited content there. Changes reached the live theme only once approved, so the store ran normally the whole time. Why this matters is in our guide Stop editing your live Shopify theme.

The results in numbers

Measured	Before	After
Theme errors (Shopify Theme Check)	131	0
Home page size	11.4 MB	3.5 MB (−69%)
Collection page size	9.3 MB	2.0 MB (−78%)
App embeds in the theme	8	4
Layout shift while loading (CLS)	0.15	0.01
Lighthouse score on mobile	46	60

A lighter page opens faster on a phone and on a slow connection. CLS tells you whether content jumps around while the page loads. Google counts anything under 0.1 as good, and the store is now at 0.01.

The scope

The redesign was a clearly scoped project: one theme, a finished design from the designer, and decisions made together with the merchant and the designer as images and feedback came in. It took ten days from the kick-off meeting to launch.

With bigger stores our work is often ongoing development: we work as part of the client’s team, and the store gets better month by month.

Who did what

The redesign was a joint effort. Elin of Snowball Growth Partners led the visual look and creative direction together with the merchant, Kata. Merivirta Digital built the theme, the customisations, the clean-up and the speed work.

“Working with Jere from Merivirta Digital went smoothly. There is plenty of skill and vision. I am more than happy with the store! And how fast the project moved. Things get done when professionals are on the job. Highly recommended!!”

— Kata Luukkala, Entrepreneur, Vorssa Ink (translated from Finnish)

“Working with Jere was professional and agile. I can’t remember the last time in 20 years that I have been part of such a smooth e-commerce project.”

— Nicolas Fogelholm, Founding Partner, Snowball Growth Partners (translated from Finnish)

“It has been really nice working with Jere, and the collaboration has worked really well. Answers have come quickly and the project has moved forward smoothly. Jere has given good recommendations for developing the online store and carried out all our ideas and visions really quickly, exactly as we wanted them. Nothing has been impossible for Jere to solve.”

— Elin Porthin, Content Specialist, Snowball Growth Partners (translated from Finnish)

See the full case and try the store yourself: merivirta.com/en/work/vorssa-ink. Thinking about the same for your store? Ask Virta, and we will look at what would make sense for yours.