Does The Vaan Group work with Giftnote?

Yes. Vaan build premium Shopify storefronts, and gifting is scoped as a designed part of the build rather than an app installed at the end.

Is Vaan still independent after the Verndale acquisition?

Vaan were acquired by Verndale in January 2026 and now sit inside that group's D2C commerce practice. The design-led approach and Shopify Platinum status carried over, with more delivery capacity behind it.

Can Vaan migrate us off an existing gifting app?

Yes. Complex platform migrations are a core capability, including moving brands off legacy gifting apps they have outgrown without losing history.

All agency partners

The Vaan Group

Shopify Platinum Partner
Global

Premium DTC brands where the gifting experience has to match the brand.

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Last verified 8 September 2026

Our verdict

At the premium end of DTC, a gift message field that looks bolted on does real damage. Vaan build the gifting experience into the storefront so it reads as part of the brand, from where the message field sits on the product page through to how the order carries through to the packing slip. Their Brand Conversion Design approach applies to the gifting path the same way it applies to everything else on the site, and they have the migration depth to move you off a legacy gifting app without losing history.

Gifting signal

Premium storefront specialists who will scope gifting as a designed part of the build.

Strengths

Gift messaging designed into the theme rather than dropped in as a widget
Placement tested across product page, cart, checkout and post-purchase
Complex platform migrations, including moving off legacy gifting apps
Brand Conversion Design applied to the gifting path specifically
Shopify Platinum Partner working with beauty, luxury and lifestyle brands
Backed by Verndale

Watch out

Vaan work at the flagship end. They are a better fit when gifting is part of a considered storefront build than for incremental changes to an existing theme.

The details

Everything below is taken from publicly published sources.

Founded: 2015
Parent group: Verndale

Specialisms

Design & UX
Development
CRO
Branding
Migration

Named clients

Rhode
HexClad
Ridge
Cult Gaia
Ten Thousand
Jacob & Co
Lola Blankets
KHY

Where Vaan fit in a gifting programme

At the premium end of DTC, a gift message field that looks bolted on does real damage. The customer noticing the seam is the same customer paying a premium for the impression that nothing about the brand is accidental. Gifting has to be designed into the storefront rather than added to it.

Founded in Brooklyn in 2015 by Xavier Armand, Vaan are a Shopify Platinum Partner working with Rhode, HexClad, Cult Gaia, Ten Thousand, Jacob & Co and KHY. Their Brand Conversion Design approach applies to the gifting path the same way it applies to the rest of the site: where the message field sits, how it behaves in the theme, what the recipient sees, and how the order carries through to the packing slip.

What makes them a good fit

They also have the migration depth to move a brand off a legacy gifting app without losing history, which is often the real blocker for merchants who adopted something early and outgrew it.

Vaan were acquired by Verndale in January 2026 and now sit inside that group's D2C commerce practice, which brings more delivery capacity behind the same design-led approach. They work at the flagship end, so they suit gifting as part of a considered build rather than an incremental change to an existing theme.