A Shopify theme can make or break your online business success.

But remember—there is no “best Shopify theme.”

Different businesses will need different themes. Also, depending on the circumstances, a single Shopify store may need to switch between various themes.

There are a few things to consider when looking for the best theme for you.

Key Criteria of the Top Shopify Themes

We’ve condensed a theme’s critical aspects into five pillars. These include features, customizability, design, speed, and whether or not they’re tailored to your specific needs. When evaluating the top Shopify themes, these elements play a crucial role in determining their suitability for your store.

Features

A Shopify theme’s features refer to its added functionality outside of being just a webpage layout template.

These theme features usually involve cart progress bars (e.g., add 3 more items to cart to avail free shipping), product upsells and cross-sells, countdown timers, pop-ups, media players, and before-and-after sections, among many others.

The top Shopify themes often highlight these features on their Shopify theme store page or sales page, showcasing their added value.

Customizability

The customizability aspect is how well a Shopify theme can be stylistically configured.

This includes options such as whether or not you can change the fonts, the available color schemes, the available blocks and sections, and how large or small you could make the banner image, to name a few.

Among the top Shopify themes, you'll find those that offer extensive customization options, allowing merchants to add engaging elements such as video content and product badges.

Theme developers that highlight their customizability will present different demo stores to showcase how varied their themes are. You may find these demo store variations on the theme’s sales page or their Shopify store listing.

Design

Themes are typically developed with a website design in mind.

For example, Dawn has a minimal design, Crave has a warm, rustic appearance, and Shine presents a glamorous one.

It’s worth noting that a Shopify merchant can mold a theme’s design to how they want it to look, rendering it pointless to talk about how well-designed a theme is.

But a theme’s off-the-box design truly shines when lesser-experienced designers, such as copywriters or marketing staff, try their hand at building pages using these themes.

Speed

A theme’s speed is also crucial to the growth of your Shopify store.

Site load speed is an integral component of user experience, brand affinity, and ultimately, conversions. No one wants to browse a catalog on a dragging site.

A speedy site contains optimized code, automatically compresses large images, and keeps HTTP requests to a minimum.

You can assess a site’s speed by running its demo store through web speed measuring apps, such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

Your Specific Needs

Ultimately, what you’ll need from a Shopify theme will depend on what your specific needs are.

If you’re a starting entrepreneur needing a barebones starter template for your first online store, you’ll benefit from Dawn.

If you’re an established cosmetic shop wanting to flaunt brand value proposition, Shine is excellent for you.

You may even conclude that the best Shopify theme for your store won’t be in this guide.

Nonetheless, the themes listed in this guide will be helpful for a good majority of Shopify users.

Best Free Shopify Themes

If paid themes aren’t in your budget, some of the best free Shopify themes can still provide a solid platform for businesses to establish their online presence.

It’s important to note, though, that these free themes don’t have nearly as many features and customization options as paid themes. However, they can still be a great starting point for those just beginning.

Dawn

Dawn is the Shopify default theme to which every Shopify user immediately has access.

Its minimal layout and design make an excellent canvas for more creative merchants to express their brands' identities and cultures.

As one of the best free Shopify themes, Dawn allows merchants to easily add their clothing brands' media assets to build a meaningful, eye-catching website.

Plus, Dawn receives official Shopify updates, ensuring its features and reliability are not lost to time.

Trade

Practically every free theme in the Shopify theme store has the same functionality as the default theme, Dawn. But Trade has some unique additions that make it stand out from other free Shopify themes.

One of its unique features is its catalog page, where visitors can easily add items in bulk by clicking the counter below each Shopify product cart.

For online retailers planning to do wholesale down the road, Trade is a perfect option and ranks among the best free Shopify themes available.

Ride

Ride is a loud and funky theme.

It’s an extreme contrast from Dawn’s default configuration, giving hyped and dynamic brands some much-needed expression.

It’s perfect for outdoor items, sports products, energy drinks, and streetwear.

An expert Shopify designer can recreate Ride’s look using Dawn. But the free Ride theme is a grace send for brands without such designers.

Best Customizable Shopify Themes

Theme customizability allows merchants to create tons of store layouts and looks.

A customizable theme essentially functions as multiple themes in terms of stylistics.

Here are some of the most customizable themes that are worth your penny.

Shine

Shine is a highly customizable theme with nearly 30 sections to choose from.

These sections include a text hotspot where visitors can hover over parts of an image and read contextual text; an image slider that can function as a before-after section; and some crawling text, to name a few.

Shine also allows merchants to more flexibly resize their image banners, allowing them to decide between a hero banner and a standard one.

Furthermore, users can tweak Shine’s theme color and typography deeper than Shopify's free themes.

You can individually edit button fonts, subheading fonts, and tab heading fonts, as well as change the drawer’s and product badges’ color schemes.

Fame

Fame is a $350 theme with over 40 sections to choose from.

Some of these sections include a before-after section, a countdown, an events calendar for upcoming promos and events, and a “revealed video on scroll” wherein a video reveals more of itself as the user scrolls deeper.

These are only a few of the sections that Fame has.

Each section has tremendous configurability. Merchants can change each section’s color, text headings, and image styles, among other things.

Merchants may even use video backgrounds for some sections, allowing for a more dynamic webpage.

Reformation

Reformation is a versatile theme, evident in the varied and complex demo stores they flaunt in the Shopify theme store.

This $320 theme has nearly 40 Shopify sections.

Just like Shine, Reformation users can resize their banners from a 450px height to occupying the entire device’s screen with just the first fold.

Reformation can change these section height settings individually for mobile users and desktop users.

The theme also has a before-after section, ideal for cosmetics and wellness products.

There’s a lot to go into when discussing customizable themes. Giving ample attention to each custom theme’s features can be an article of its own.

So, we highly suggest trying each custom theme for yourself.

Go to the Shopify Theme Store, and for each custom theme listing, select “Try Theme.”

Best Premium Shopify Themes

High costs don’t mean premium offerings. If that were the case, the most expensive Shopify themes would automatically be on this list.

The best premium Shopify themes should back up a hefty price tag with features and optimizations that result in conversions.

Here are some of the best premium Shopify themes that we recommend:

Shine

Shine costs $210 as a one-time payment, with no subscription-based payment required. As one of the best premium Shopify themes,

In return, users get a highly customizable theme with features that can improve conversions and customer lifetime value.

These converting features include testimonials, a countdown timer, a zoom function for product photos, and a sale badge, to name a few.

Shine also provides distinct functionalities that make an ecommerce page seem developer-made—such as a sticky add-to-cart and a product quick view in the catalog page

Prestige

Prestige’s price tag is $380, but it’s one of the most popular paid themes on the Shopify theme store.

This theme is best suited for fashion and apparel brands, cosmetic brands, and lifestyle brands.

Some of the little things that make this theme more premium-feeling include a cart drawer that stays on the screen as the user scrolls, a newsletter pop-up, and a cookie notice.

By default, the header is transparent, providing a fuller view of the hero banner. But it becomes a solid color once visitors move their cursor toward it. This dynamic element contributes to the theme’s premium feel.

There’s also a “Shop the Look” section, featured collections, and a collection list—all of which can highlight individual products within a large catalog.

Xclusive

Xclusive is on the Shopify theme store’s top shelf at $400--a truly premium Shopify theme.

But that price is backed up well.

Xclusive gives merchants tremendous stylistic options, such as a spacing slider, which can be used to combine (and overlap) sections, in-depth theme settings for color and typography, and over 40 sections to choose from.

It also has some converting features, such as a countdown timer, to nudge visitors to a purchase.

Xclusive’s cart contains more functionality than the typical ecommerce cart. It has cart upsells and a free shipping bar. To top it off, the checkout buttons are animated, spicing up the checkout experience.

Do note, though, that if you plan to use Xclusive, you’ll need a lot of media assets and a sharp hand at design to fully utilize it.

Best Themes for Shopify Clothing Store

An ideal clothing theme should highlight the clothing brand’s culture, brand identity, and personality. Otherwise, it will just be another t-shirt shop. When choosing the best themes for Shopify, it's crucial to find ones that enhance these aspects.

Here are some ideal themes for your clothing brand:

Blum

Blum’s moving elements paired with its simple layout can drive visitors’ eyes to the images on-screen (e.g., product photos, clothing, lifestyle shots, etc.).

It’s also worth pointing out that Blum has a transparent header. So when a merchant uses a video banner for the first fold, Blum gives visitors an engaging moving first fold to reel them into the website.

This may be used to showcase lifestyle clips, attributing the clothing brand to a certain culture (posh, refined, laid back, corporate, etc.).

Blum also has a mega menu that clothing merchants can use to highlight collections from the menu dropdown, making it one of the best themes for Shopify stores focused on apparel.

Unicorn

Unicorn is one of the most affordable paid themes on Shopify at just $150.

But they provide functionality and stylistics that can set any clothing store apart from the Dawn-using majority.

Among these is a “collage of images,” a dynamic and customizable layout that merchants can use to showcase their products and lifestyle shots.

There’s also the mega-menu that merchants can use to highlight collections and prominently organize products by category.

Furthermore, Unicorn allows more advanced, keen-eyed Shopify designers to set animations for elements as visitors scroll through the page.

Xclusive

Xclusive is an excellent theme for clothing brands with tons of collections and products.

As one of the best themes for Shopify, this $400 theme offers over 40 sections.

These include image banner columns, collection navigation, an image banner with products, an image collage, and numerous other creative ways to showcase clothing and lifestyle shots.

Its fashion-centered sections, such as “Shop the look” and “Lookbooks” let visitors fully visualize how a set or collection would look when worn together.

Best Shopify Themes for Electronics

Electronics are complex products.

Each mobile device, laptop, keyboard, surveillance solution, etc. has a lot to show off. Visually communicating an electronic product’s specs and many features can prove to be a challenge.

Here are some themes that can make that challenge easier.

Electro

Electro is a theme created with electronics in mind.

Some of its notable sections that are centered around electronics include a “product comparison” section that compares product details and specs; and a “text hotspots” section that can be configured to allow users to engagely learn more about a certain product.

There’s also an “icon with text” section that you may use to highlight value propositions about your product.

For example, “100% Recycled,” “Premium, High-Quality Titanium,” or “Right-to-Repair Friendly.”

Laying out features this way is excellent for multifaceted products, such as electronics.

Impact

Impact is a $380 theme made for consumer tech and lifestyle stores.

It has nearly 40 sections. Some of these sections include a comparison table, text hotspots, and a before-after image—which can be ideal for selling tech that produces visual results (e.g., phone screen cleaner).

Impact also has some elements that can spice up the page and improve the brand experience. These include scrolling text, a revealed image on scroll, and something called “images and text scrolling,” wherein images and corresponding text are presented animatedly to visitors as they scroll through the page.

That last feature is a dynamic way to show off some value proposition.

Digital

Digital is another electronics-centered theme in the same price range.

This theme allows site visitors to use dark mode—a feature that tech-savvy users can appreciate.

Digital has a lot of configurations for its over 30 sections. Some of them allow merchants to add captivating animations to text and images, giving the overall page some personality.

Digital is also an excellent theme for SaaS companies with its pricing table section, moving testimonials, and before-after section.

FAQ

What is the most popular shopify theme?

Dawn is the most popular Shopify theme, with every new Shopify merchant immediately having access to it. With this in mind, we can say there are nearly five million online stores (source: BuiltWith) with access to Dawn

How to pick a good Shopify theme?

The right theme depends on a few points of assessment--features, customizability, design, speed, and your specific needs. You can assess a Shopify theme by looking at its theme store listing. But to make a more informed decision, try the theme yourself by selecting "Try Theme" from the Shopify theme's store listing.

Is it worth buying a Shopify theme?

A Shopify theme can either be paid or free. It's completely worth acquiring a free theme, considering they don't cost anything. But when it comes to paid themes, Shopify stores must assess their options well before arriving at a decision. A well-suited Shopify theme improves the online brand experience, increases return customers, and results in more conversions. In turn, merchants get returns that are well worth a Shopify theme's price tag.

What Shopify theme do luxury brands use?

There is no one specific go-to Shopify theme that luxury brands use.

However, a lot of designer clothes' website designs (whether Shopify-powered or not) can be achieved with Shine, Blum, Prestige, Xclusive, and Unicorn. The magic in these Shopify themes rests on their customizability and how skilled your web designers are.

Conclusion

The success of an ecommerce website relies partly on its choice of Shopify theme.

An ideal Shopify theme should be feature-packed, well-designed, speedy, provide wide customization options, and have flexible design settings. But most importantly, a theme should fit into your Shopify store's demands.

Fashion brands won't likely have more use for spec sheets than they would for collections sections.

But choosing the most popular Shopify themes is only one part of creating a stellar website.

Make sure to explore the Shopify app store as well and look for apps (e.g., drag-and-drop page builders) that will give your store more features, style, and functionality to add to what your theme could offer.