Finding the perfect Shopify theme for your apparel or clothing store is a key part of making sure that your brand and products stand out from the crowd.
When deciding on what theme to use for your clothing store, there are a variety of factors to consider:
- Clean design with generous spacing can be ideal for online apparel stores so that the emphasis is put on your stylish products and, if applicable, models.
- Since most online clothing stores offer items in a variety of fabrics, it’s important to pick a theme with swatch options for both colors and patterns.
- In addition, “swatches” are an ideal way for customers to easily see available sizes and select the one they wish to buy.
- Having swatches on your collection page also lets customers know what other colors the item comes in.
- Mobile friendly designs can be particularly important for clothing and apparel stores since their customers are often more likely to be shopping on smartphones or tablets.
- “Quick view” or “quick shop” features that let users take a peek at product details and, if they like what they see, add it to the cart or start to checkout, is an effective way to encourage browsing.
- Gallery page templates can be used to create look books or visual shopping guides.
- Promo bars that can appear prominently on every page of your site, letting you showcase free shipping or returns information, can be a key conversion booster.
- If you sell items with distinct fronts and backs, our “secondary image on hover” feature on collection pages is a great way to show customers the front view of items when the page loads but “flip it around” to see the back on hover.
- Also consider that most ecommerce clothing stores will need a size chart to help customers pick the correct size (which is also helpful in reducing returns and exchanges). For some stores, it’s also important that you be able to define different size charts for different products — since not all sizes will apply to every product.
All Out of the Sandbox Shopify themes are a great choice for your online apparel or clothing store and all come with the key features above.
That being said, some Out of the Sandbox themes come with even more added features to take your Shopify apparel store up a notch:
- Flex and Turbo include Out of the Sandbox’s exclusive “multi-tag” feature that brings app-like filtering functionality to your store without requiring a monthly fee. This feature can be vital for apparel stores as a way to let your customers refine your collection views by factors such as size, material, product type or color, including with color swatches.
- Flex, Turbo, Mobilia and Responsive also include a built-in mega menu that lets you easily showcase multiple levels of navigation, which can be ideal for clothing and apparel stores that have categories and subcategories of products. They can also feature images, which is a great way to include product photos and promos in the navigation bar.
Flex Shopify theme
Flex is an ideal Shopify theme for apparel and clothing stores, especially if you’re looking for a variety of header and product page options.
Flex offers a countless number of theme options that makes it easier than ever to control almost every aspect of the theme with a few clicks! Custom CSS can also be easily integrated in the theme editor for even more control.
The theme’s product pages include an “Image scrolling” option that displays product images in a seamless scrolling effect – perfect for showing off all angles. The collection pages include an optional “promotional banner” to highlight your apparel store’s specials or promote new arrivals.
Flex also features a unique approach to navigation — the “Vertical” layout option displays your main menu on the left hand side on larger screens, as seen here in the Moda demo shop:
This demo shop also boasts a grid-like layout that lets customers explore product imagery and information easily, while also including the multi-tag feature so they can narrow down what they’re looking for.
Another key feature that’s helpful for clothing and apparel stores is Flex’s exclusive footer bar. Display icons and corresponding text that can boost buyer confidence with easy access to your return policy or unique information about your products.
Turbo Shopify theme
Another great option for your clothing or apparel store is the Turbo theme.
Turbo is also highly customizable and includes an added intelligent page preloading feature that uses your customer’s behaviour to attempt to predict what page they will visit next while beginning to load that page in the background — meaning pages often load almost instantly.
This feature can benefit any type of store, but since apparel stores tend to be heavier in imagery and also involve a lot of browsing from page to page, it can be particularly helpful for these types of businesses.
Parallax Shopify theme
Out of the Sandbox’s Parallax theme is designed for visual storytelling – perfect for enhancing your brand’s imagery and style.
Parallax’s namesake scrolling effect can create stunning visuals that show off your clothing — especially if you have great lifestyle photography.
The theme also includes the option to put your color or pattern swatches in circular shapes for a unique, stylish look.
Parallax's Los Angeles demo shop
Responsive Shopify theme
The Responsive theme is also packed with great options for almost any clothing or apparel store.
Customers can preview items using the “quick shop” feature that puts product summaries, including size and color swatches, in an elegant popup.
Responsive also boasts the option to give shoppers easy access to a search field even when they scroll down the page, making it ideal for clothing and apparel stores with large inventories where customers can quickly find what they are looking for.
Retina Shopify theme
Retina’s elegant, natural color palette and hint-of-vintage styling is well suited for apparel and clothing stores.
Retina’s Austin demo shop
The full-width design option for banner images allows you to make the maximum impact with your product photography on the homepage.
Of course, you can also add a variety of text and calls to action on the slideshow to help give more details about your store or products.
Mobilia Shopify theme
The elegant layout and generous spacing in the Mobilia theme make it a great choice for apparel and clothing stores.
By combining large photography with clean typography, the Milan demo shop displays how the theme can be used to showcase both lifestyle photos along with product photos in stylish ways.
Artisan Shopify theme
Out of the Sandbox originally developed Artisan for service oriented businesses, but it still can be a solid choice for clothing and apparel stores.
The clean design allows for the focus to be on your clothing and models, while the built-in shapes library is a simple but easy way to add a splash of color or visual interest to your apparel store.
Artisan’s Victoria demo shop
Given its service oriented design and feature set, Artisan is also an excellent choice if you sell services related to fashion — such as personal styling or custom apparel.
Artisan also includes the ability to build advanced contact forms that let you collect information such as customers’ style choices, sizing information and other preferences. This feature is also available in Turbo and Flex.
