Article’s

Purpose — This study explores the user needs and experience challenges associated with discovering, evaluating, and purchasing fashion online, focusing on Gen Z and Millennial shoppers. It examines product discovery, sizing and fit confidence, trust, checkout friction, sustainability signalling, and responsive, accessible design. Based on these insights, it proposes a user-centred approach to designing a more trustworthy, editorial, and low-friction fashion e-commerce experience, developed through the design of a live platform, Marzena. Design/methodology/approach — A user-centred design (UCD) approach structured around the Double-Diamond model was adopted. Secondary research into Gen Z and Millennial fashion behaviour was combined with a competitive audit of leading fashion platforms. The findings informed personas, empathy and journey maps, information architecture, user flows, a component-driven design system, low- to high-fidelity screens, an interactive prototype, and moderated usability testing focused on the checkout flow. Findings — Users experience friction across product discovery, fit and sizing confidence, trust, and most acutely checkout. They value editorial, content-first discovery, transparent pricing, immersive product media, a short and clear mobile checkout, and credible sustainability cues. Reducing checkout steps and surfacing trust signals emerged as the highest-impact design opportunities. Practical implications — The study demonstrates how user research and a reusable design system can inform fashion platforms that simplify discovery, comparison, and purchase while remaining consistent, responsive, and accessible. Originality/value — The study contributes an editorial-first, checkout-focused, user-centred perspective to fashion e-commerce, translating consumer needs into concrete design decisions and positioning trust, sustainability signalling, and responsive accessibility as core considerations.