E-commerce Platform for
Apparel Rental & Purchase
Built a B2C proof-of-concept platform for a workout clothing rental service, combining short-term rentals, subscriptions, and direct purchases in a single seamless experience.
The Vision Behind the Platform
The incubator wanted to explore a new way to help customers access premium workout clothing without committing to full-price purchases upfront.
Try Before You Buy
Let customers test new products in real life before deciding to purchase—reducing purchase anxiety and returns.
Convenient Travel Solutions
Help frequent travelers pack light while still being able to work out in quality gear at their destination.
Sales Driver
Use rentals as a low-friction entry point that drives full-price purchases of new items users fall in love with.
Create Your Kit Flow
The core experience was a guided "Create Your Kit" flow where users could build a complete workout outfit by mixing and matching items.
Mix & Match
Browse and select shoes, shirts, shorts, and accessories by style and size to create the perfect workout kit.
Rental Dates
Select rental period, check real-time inventory availability, and get appropriate pricing based on subscription status.
Keep What You Love
After the rental period, return items or purchase new versions of anything you want to keep.
Intuitive Product Selection
Users can easily customize their kits and save favorite combinations for future rentals, making reordering fast and simple.
Thumb-Friendly Multi-Step Wizard
The same kit-building flow reworked into a focused, mobile-optimized UI preserving full functionality in a lighter experience.
End-to-End Delivery
As lead full-stack developer, I owned the complete delivery of the platform—from architecture decisions to production deployment.
Full-Stack Development
- Rebuilt platform from scratch after evaluating legacy codebase
- Implemented React front-end with responsive design
- Built Node.js + Express API layer
Database Design
- Modeled users, orders, and inventory in MongoDB
- Designed reservation and availability windows
- Implemented item state tracking system
API Integrations
- EzRentOut API for rental management
- Stripe for subscriptions and payments
- Klaviyo & Segment for analytics
Inventory System
- Barcode-based workflow for operations
- State machine for item lifecycle
- Real-time availability tracking
Analytics & Marketing
- Event tracking for full user journey
- Email flows and targeted campaigns
- Conversion funnel visibility
DevOps & Handover
- Deployment and infrastructure setup
- Documentation for internal team
- Clean architecture for future scaling
The Orchestration Layer
The platform acted as the coordination hub between multiple systems that didn't natively talk to each other.
Front End
- React.js SPA
- Responsive design
- Guided checkout flows
- Account management
Back End
- Node.js + Express
- Centralized business logic
- RESTful API
- Integration handlers
Database
- MongoDB
- User profiles
- Orders & histories
- Item states & availability
Integrations
- EzRentOut (rentals)
- Stripe (payments)
- Klaviyo (email)
- Segment (analytics)
// Item state machine for inventory tracking
const itemStates = {
AVAILABLE: 'available',
RESERVED: 'reserved',
OUT_FOR_DELIVERY: 'out_for_delivery',
WITH_CUSTOMER: 'with_customer',
IN_CLEANING: 'in_cleaning',
BLOCKED: 'blocked'
};
// Barcode scan triggers state transition
const processBarcodeScan = async (itemId, scanType) => {
const item = await Item.findById(itemId);
const nextState = getNextState(item.state, scanType);
await item.updateState(nextState);
await syncWithEzRentOut(item);
};Key Problems & Solutions
Building on an early-stage rental API while keeping operations simple required creative problem-solving.
Early-Stage Rental API
The EzRentOut API was still relatively immature—not all endpoints behaved as documented, and some needed features didn't exist yet.
- Collaborated closely with EzRentOut team to clarify API behavior
- Requested and helped spec missing endpoints
- Built robust integration layer with error handling and retries
- Isolated integration logic for easy future updates
Complex Inventory vs. Simple Operations
Inventory needed to track time-based reservations, cleaning buffers, and delivery windows—but staff needed a process they could follow without technical knowledge.
- Designed clear state machine for each item lifecycle
- Implemented barcode-driven workflow for staff
- System handles state transitions and validation automatically
- Operations team maintains accuracy with minimal training
Impact & Outcomes
The POC successfully validated the rental model and provided a foundation for the incubator's continued development.
Successful Launch
Delivered a functioning proof-of-concept platform supporting real customers across the full rental and purchase journey.
Foundation for Growth
Provided clean architecture, integrations, and workflows that an internal team could build on as the offering grew.
Polished UX
Real-time inventory, intuitive kit-building, and seamless checkout felt like a modern e-commerce experience despite complex logic.
Smooth Handover
After validating the concept, transitioned the project to a larger development team with clear technical and product foundation.
Own the Orchestration Layer
When multiple external tools are involved, the custom application has to be the source of truth for business logic and data flow.
Design for Users & Ops
A great customer experience depends on giving operations simple, reliable tools to keep the system's data accurate.
POCs Can Still Be Robust
Even under POC timelines, investing in clean architecture makes it much easier for future teams to scale and extend.
