B2B Fashion-Tech Marketplace — from Legacy Chaos to Scale
Building a Supply Chain Management Ecosystem for Italian Artisan
This case study explains how Onix turned an inherited, effectively unlaunchable platform into a stable, commercial-grade digital ecosystem that connects international fashion brands with premium Italian artisanal workshops — from design concept to factory floor.
- Codebase consolidated from scattered, undocumented repositories
- Hybrid Python, Node.js, Angular & React stack stabilized
- MySQL database upgraded and compressed 10x
- AWS infrastructure right-sized to real workload
- Product taxonomy rebuilt for search and discovery
- Registration and project-creation flows redesigned
- Industry
- Fashion-tech
- Location
- Italy
- Fashion brands onboarded worldwideOn the optimized platform
- 2,000+
- Lower monthly database hosting costsAfter the database upgrade
- 20x
- Less manual administrative overheadFor production managers
- 40%
About the project
Italian Artisan is a B2B fashion-tech marketplace and supply chain platform based in Italy.
It connects international designers and growth-stage fashion brands with premium artisanal workshops, working as both a production management platform and a supply chain aggregator for apparel manufacturing.
The client came to Onix with an inherited platform: a fragmented, undocumented codebase on an unstable mix of technologies, sitting on an over-provisioned, outdated database and cloud setup.
The goal was a stable ecosystem that preserves traditional craftsmanship while giving modern brands a structured, fully digitized path from concept to factory floor.
The platform today
The live product at italianartisan.com
Business problem
Designers struggle to find premium workshops, communicate specs across language barriers, and navigate massive MOQs. The platform built to solve that had become a problem of its own.
- 01
A completely scattered legacy codebase
Code spread across unmapped GitHub repositories with no technical documentation — impossible to safely modify or extend.
- 02
An unstable, overlapping technology stack
Python, Node.js, Express, React, and Angular layered on top of each other with no clean integration.
- 03
A database working against the business
An outdated, overpriced MySQL setup with a storage footprint roughly 10 times larger than needed.
- 04
Over-provisioned cloud infrastructure
An AWS setup sized far beyond the actual workload, turning server costs into a real financial burden.
- 05
A taxonomy that hurt searchability
Category and subcategory hierarchy that made the catalog hard to browse or search.
- 06
Intake flows that didn't match reality
Brand registration and project-creation forms that needed a full overhaul.
Stuck with a legacy platform you can't launch? Let's fix it.
Solution
During the project, we delivered the following solutions:
- 01
Codebase forensics and unification
Onix's team tracked down every scattered micro-service and consolidated them into a single, organized, version-controlled Git infrastructure — the foundation needed to safely build on top of the platform.
- 02
Legacy stack refactoring
The hybrid backend/frontend architecture was cleaned up and stabilized, getting Python, Node.js/Express, Angular, and React communicating smoothly, without the lag and instability of the inherited setup.
- 03
Database modernization
The outdated MySQL setup was both a cost and a performance problem. Upgrading it alone cut monthly database hosting costs by roughly 20 times.
- 04
10x database compression
The team found a structural flaw in how data was stored — consuming about ten times more space than necessary — and systematically cleaned and shrank the data footprint.
- 05
AWS cost optimization
With a far leaner database, over-allocated AWS resources were downsized and server capacity realigned to match real usage.
- 06
Taxonomy and database restructuring
The product category and subcategory hierarchy was completely reorganized, making the catalog logical to browse for brands and workshops.
- 07
Redesigned intake flows
Brand registration and project-creation interfaces and validation forms were rebuilt around how designers and workshops actually use the platform.
Business impact
- fashion brands onboarded worldwide
- 2,000+
- artisanal workshops across 24 manufacturing districts
- 100+
- smaller database storage footprint
- 10x
Productivity
- Automated task routing, built-in communication context, and clear pipeline statuses cut production managers' administrative overhead by over 40%
- New process logic significantly accelerated time-to-match — from concept to factory floor much faster
Cost savings
- Monthly database hosting costs dropped roughly 20x
- Database storage footprint shrank roughly 10x
- AWS server costs brought back in line with actual usage
Customer experience
- From broken and unlaunchable to a commercial-grade ecosystem with zero downtime
- Step-by-step validation and mandatory digital tech-packs reduced production errors and protect designers' IP
- Verified, data-rich profiles let designers and workshops vet each other with confidence
- Redesigned flows made onboarding substantially easier
Technology & delivery
- Node.js
- Python
- Angular
- React
- MySQL
- AWS
- specialists
- 8
- months of cooperation
- 7
Consolidated a fragmented codebase into a single, version-controlled infrastructure
Refactored a hybrid architecture spanning four technologies into a coherent system
Upgraded and restructured the MySQL database, cutting storage and hosting cost
Re-aligned AWS infrastructure to the real, post-optimization workload
Rebuilt category taxonomy and core intake UI/UX for real-world scale
Client testimonial
Our experience with Onix-Systems has been positive overall. They supported us in developing and improving our platform, demonstrating a solid technical background and a good understanding of our business requirements.
Communication has been clear and consistent throughout the project. The team was responsive and available, which allowed us to maintain a steady development pace and address issues without unnecessary delays.
Overall, Onix-Systems proved to be a dependable technology partner, capable of supporting both ongoing improvements and more strategic development initiatives.
Lorenzo Colucci
CEO at Italian Artisan
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Inherited a platform that's more liability than asset?
Fragmented code, ballooning server bills, or a database no one wants to touch? Talk to Onix about a legacy platform assessment and see what it would take to turn your system into one that scales.