I'm Phil. I've spent twenty years running fashion e-commerce.
Two decades in fashion retail and e-commerce, long enough to have seen the tools change three times over and to know which fundamentals never do. I work with fashion and lifestyle DTC brands, mostly UK, mostly on Shopify, as the on-demand director they can't yet justify hiring full-time.
The job hasn't really changed: simplify the chaos, solve the problem in front of you, and bring calm and momentum. What's changed recently is that when a business's operations are held together by spreadsheets, I can now build the actual system that replaces them.
"AI isn't going to take over the world. It needs people to drive it, and driving it to real results is a skill not everyone has."
I couldn't code two years ago. Now I ship production software, because twenty years of operations taught me what to build. A short-ship has to flow to the invoice; a factory needs a one-click link, not another portal login. Anyone can open an AI tool. Knowing what to build is the twenty-year part.
I'm the chairman of my local football club. I'm also its groundsman.
The pitches are among the best in the area. Local associations book them for cup finals; the FAW booked them for referee training during the U19 European Championship. It's unglamorous work, tended obsessively, to a standard outsiders come looking for.
I treat client accounts the way I treat those pitches: constant care, no shortcuts, and it shows the moment someone else inspects them.
Closer to home
I'm based in Wrexham, and some of the work I'm proudest of is on my doorstep.
A website built for a local designer-brand reseller.
Work for the Wrexham hospice charity.
Built as a volunteer, for volunteers: software for my own club’s grassroots needs, now live for others.
Home is Wrexham, with my wife and our eighteen-year-old. The local work isn't a service on a price list. It's how I'd rather live: pick up the phone, help where I can.