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11 Best Shopify Themes for your Clothing Dropshipping Store

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According to a report by Nielsen, fashion is the category that is among the top 3 most purchased categories in all regions across the globe. Moreover, more than 50% of online shoppers claimed to purchase at least one fashion item online in the Asia Pacific, North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe in 2021. This clearly implies that starting up or owning a fashion eCommerce store can mean a profitable business opportunity if done well.

Having a quality website is one of the most important things to ensure you have when you are starting up your eCommerce fashion business. 85% of shoppers claim that it is a highly important factor as they form an opinion about a website just within 50 milliseconds. For this reason, it is inevitable that you are using a reliable CMS (Content Management System) that allows you to tailor the theme of your online store both to your fashion assortment and your targeted audience.

For example, Shopify, which in 2021 was in the top 3 CMSs allows users to create high-quality and responsive traditional and dropshipping eCommerce stores alike. In addition, many dropshipping suppliers offer nowadays automated solutions to integrate your Shopify store with their inventories. For instance, BrandsGateway supplies customers with a convenient Shopify App that takes care of everything regarding the setup of their clients’ storefronts.

The platform hosts and runs over 500,000 active stores today that have collectively driven over 40 million USD in sales. During 2019 the global eCommerce market grew by 21% in sales but those businesses that have been built on Shopify experienced a 50% increase in eCommerce sales. Moreover, over 50% of customers that made a purchase through a Shopify-operated website will be returning to make at least one additional purchase in the future. All there show that Shopify could be a great go-to option when it comes to picking your CMS for your eCommerce store. In this article, we will list the best Shopify themes that you can use as a fashion eCommerce business owner to excel in the important area of Shopify web designs.

What is a Shopify theme?

Shopify themes are essentially templates that determine the first impression of your visitors as it is used to set the tone and establish the look and feel of your fashion eCommerce store. There is a wide range of Shopify themes you can choose from that offer different layouts and styles and different experiences for your visitors.

When making a choice regarding your theme, always keep in mind your brand identity, the type of consumers you would want to appeal to, and the theme architecture type that best fits your business. There are Shopify themes that you can set up for your store for free but you can also purchase a paid theme that can be priced up to a couple of hundreds of UDS. Whether you need a paid theme or you do not, depends on several factors.

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Shopify paid vs. free themes

Before we introduce the best Shopify themes, it is crucial for you to understand the advantages of both free and paid Shopify themes.

A free team is enough for you when:

  • You are not in need of building trust with a highly professional and slick website as your customers already know you and trust your business. This way your website will target mostly existing customers and allow them to place orders and contact you online;
  • You are not selling a wide range of products. If your goal is to only sell a small selection of products, like fashion accessories, you would not need the extra features that help you to organize and filter an extensive catalog of products like clothing, shoes, and accessories;
  • When you only have a small amount to invest in your business starting up. In this case, purchasing a theme might affect your ability to spend on more important aspects such as inventory or marketing.

On the other hand, you would need a paid theme when:

  • You are aiming to sell to strangers who are not familiar with your business yet. When selling primarily to new customers you will need a professional website to convince them about your legitimacy and the quality of the products you sell, especially if it comes to luxury items from renowned brands;
  • You want your website to be as modern and up-to-date with features as possible. Although free Shopify themes are also a good alternative, their paid counterparts offer a wider range of customization options that can enhance your customers’ experience while shopping;
  • You have specific features that you require your theme to have. It can be hard to make a trade-off between one desired feature and another when it comes to free themes. But when you are looking at paid themes you are likely to find one that matches all your criteria.

The best Shopify themes for clothing eCommerce stores

In this section, we will introduce you to the best free and paid themes that will make your fashion eCommerce store stand out. The fashion and apparel market calls for a highly visual, eye-catching theme that best highlights your brand’s essence and helps you to shine the best light on your merchandise.

The best free Shopify themes

Minimal

This theme created by Shopify has a minimalistic and clean design that allows your visitors to focus on the fashion products you are selling. Main benefits include a quick set-up time that helps first-time eCommerce retailers to get their stores up and running as soon as possible. This Shopify theme is best suited for shops that keep a small catalog of products. Minimal also provides you with features such as cart notes, recommended products section, and a stock counter.

Simple

Simple is also a minimalistic theme that has been created by Shopify and it is ideal to showcase your products. This theme features an accordion-style menu on the side of the page for main navigation, product image zoom while hovering over the image for better visibility of details, image animations for smooth transition effects, and the option to showcase product recommendations for better discoverability.

Boundless

Boundless is another minimalistic theme that helps you highlight your stunning photos on your website. This theme is optimized for large images so you can best showcase your products with high-resolution images across your store. Allows you to integrate a slideshow with a fading effect to your homepage to feature multiple products and categories. Also, with Boundless you can even add a YouTube or Vimeo video to your homepage to get your brand’s message across to your visitors. Lastly, with sticky navigation, you can keep your menu bar fixed at the top of the page while scrolling down for easier usability and navigation.

Narrative

If your brand or products have a compelling and distinctive story, this Shopify theme could be a great option for you. This theme is ideal for a single or a small number of products that carry a meaningful message. The whole theme is designed specifically for visual storytelling to highlight the finer details of your product. With Narrative, you can tell your brand’s story with an embedded autoplay video on the top of your main page. You can also take advantage of the full-width layout to showcase high-resolution images. Furthermore, you have the option to fix your navigation bar on the top of the screen to help your visitors navigate on your website.

Brooklyn

Brookly in a Shopify theme specifically dedicated to modern apparel stores that are focused on brand imagery. This theme has a header slideshow at the top of the home page which allows you to showcase multiple brands or product images. You can also include a YouTube or Vimeo video on your main page for telling the story of your brand and engage your visitors further. With the help of the slide-out cart feature, your customers will be able to add items to their cart without leaving their current page for a more mobile-friendly result.

Dawn

The last free Shopify theme on our list is Dawn which is currently the only free theme that is an Online Store 2.0 theme. It provides a modern and flexible design to help you to tailor the theme the best to your brand. This Shopify theme offers many more features than its previously listed counterparts. For better marketing and conversion, this theme utilizes blogs, cross-selling, product reviews, promo banners, and recommended products section.

In order for your customers to understand your products better, with this Shopify theme you can include size charts, lookbooks, image zoom, product videos, and usage information. This way your customers can make a more informed purchasing decision and will be less likely to return your products.

The best paid Shopify themes

Vantage

Vantage is a conversion-focused Shopify theme that is suited for both small and large catalogs of fashion products. This theme is also an Online Store 2.0 theme that allows you to drag and drop sections like images, products, videos, and codes throughout your store’s page without any additional coding knowledge. Vantage is focused on visual storytelling to support your brand’s identity and get it across to your visitors. For a theme like Vantage that has extensive customization options and over 93% positive reviews, the 240 USD price tag seems to be a fair deal.

Loft

A more affordable Shopify theme with a 160 USD price tag is Loft. This theme is a traditional Shopify theme that does not feature the benefits of Online Store 2.0. This theme marries visual storytelling and editorial content by offering a great display of images together with longer-form text sections. If your brand is heavily relying on promotions, this Shopify theme is definitely for you as it features options such as in-menu promos, promo banners, and promo titles. For the best possible display of your products, you can benefit from color swatches, image zoom, and product filtering and sorting.

Envy

On the more expensive side of the scale, Envy is a Shopify theme that costs 350 USD. Its clean style makes it ideal for highlighting products and running promotions easily on your store’s website. Envy is also an Online Store 2.0 theme that allows for highly customized pages facilitated by well-designed blocks that you can move around freely. This Shopify theme enables you to run time-based flash sales without using any additional apps, ad promo pop-ups, and show recently viewed items. Moreover, with its mega menu and product sorting and filtering features, it is suitable for any catalog size.

Motion

Motion is also a fairly expensive Shopify theme that costs 310 USD for you to purchase. This theme helps you to bring your brand to life through visual storytelling with multiple embedded animations and video options. This is also an Online Store 2.0 theme so you will be able to customize all page structures according to your preferences. To better promote your brand you can utilize features such as in-menu promos, product badges, press coverage highlights, promo banners, and promo pop-ups.

Running promotions with the help of these tools can not only increase your sales but also have the potential to decrease your cart abandonment rate that so many eCommerce retailers are fighting against. Motion is ideal for stores with a wider product offering as it allows customers to easily navigate with collection page navigation, an enhanced search bar, sticky header, and product filtering and sorting.

Lorenza

Last on our list is Lorenza, which is also a traditional Shopify theme that does not provide the Online Store 2.0 features. For this reason, it comes at a cheaper price of 180 USD. This Shopify theme is editorial-inspired and could be the perfect fit for fashion boutique retailers. Its editorial-style layout allows you to showcase your brand in a highly visual manner with large format product and brand images. For great navigation, this theme provides a sticky navigation menu bar and product filtering by price, type, and best sellers on collection pages.

To sum up

Choosing the perfect Shopify theme for your store might not be a straightforward process at all times. Make sure that you consider the unique characteristics of your brand, the main goal of your website, and conduct a competitor analysis before you make a decision. If you are just starting up, it is recommended that you first try the free themes provided on the platform to get an idea of how each feature works and also to see where you would need or want additional options. This way, you will have a clear idea and a list of extra features that you are looking for that could serve as a basis when searching for the most suitable paid Shopify theme in the future.

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About the Author

Lilla Stefanovszky

Fashion marketing professional turned digital marketer. My name is Lilla and I have been working in the fashion industry for 5 years. Currently working at BrandsGateway and helping with the development of the marketing strategy and on occasions writing articles for our audience. When away form the computer, I enjoy outdoors and running with my dogs.

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