If you’re looking to start a Shopify clothing store, you’re on the right path. Fashion has grown tremendously as an e-commerce niche in recent years, with a market size of $768.7 billion (source: statista) in 2023, and it is a big draw for global consumers today.

In this article, we’ll explain why Shopify is top of mind for most e-commerce store owners and how to succeed on the platform. We’ll also share lessons from some successful Shopify clothing stores, including what they do well and how you can learn from them.

Why Shopify is Great for Clothing Stores

There are many factors that make Shopify stand out as a preferred choice for fashion e-commerce sellers.

Operate in an attractive market

Fashion is by far the most attractive product category on Shopify. According to statistics from Demand Sage, fashion niches constitute six out of the seven (source: demandsage.com) most popular store categories on Shopify.

Source: demandsage

The predominance of fashion stores on Shopify is a testament to how much interest this sector is currently generating on the platform. People want to look and feel good, and Shopify clothing stores play a big part in helping them accomplish that.

Fashion is a high margin industry

Sellers who focus on clothing and other fashion items tend to enjoy attractive profit margins. Some reports suggest that these margins can be as high as 30% net (source:snbc), which is mouthwatering compared to many other niches.

One reason why fashion sellers can earn such a high margin is because of the many different selling models available to them. For instance, you can choose to adopt a dropshipping model where you don’t spend anything on product storage, fulfillment or shipping. Your dropship supplier handles all of this while you focus on finding customers and closing orders.

Leverage a global market base

Perhaps the biggest reason why sellers flock to Shopify, asides its incredible e-commerce solutions, is the universal appeal that the platform holds for buyers worldwide.

Consider this: in 2023 alone, roughly 700 million people bought something from a Shopify store, combining for a gross merchandise volume of $200 billion.

Source: domandsage

Considering that there were about 2.14 billion people shopping online in 2022, this means 30% of all global shoppers were on Shopify in 2022. Who wouldn’t want to put their fashion store on such a platform?

In the next section, we’ll discuss examples of Shopify clothing stores that you can learn from to build a successful Shopify apparel store in 2023.

6 Amazing Shopify Clothing Stores to Inspire You

In order to set up a thriving clothing store, it’s important to appreciate how to present your products and tell your brand story. The six stores we’ll discuss below found great ways to do this that you can learn from.

Hiut Denim & Co

hiutdenim.co.uk

What they do well

• Incredible brand story told through a captivating brand voice
• High quality products made with obvious love and care
• Clean theme that uses videos and super clear product pictures

Hiut Denim & Co was founded in Cardigan, a town in Wales known for its history of producing jeans. The store leverages local expertise to create jeans that are sturdy, stylish, and steeped in the unique history of the town. Hiut Denim is proud of its roots and the knowhow that its “grand masters” (those who make the jeans) bring to every product.

Upon entering the company’s website, it’s immediately clear how much they know about and love producing jeans. The store really leans into its origin story by demonstrating how it helped revive the culture of jean making in its town and the role that locals play in creating its products. The way they tell their story fosters an immediate connection with buyers.

 

Beyond their meticulously crafted brand voice and story, the store provides practical features that enable a smoother buyer journey. On entering the website, you’ll be met with a popup that automatically shows your current location and currency. This provides buyers with customized currency and pricing, shipping information, and other region-specific details.

The website itself uses a minimal theme with lots of white space and super clear product pictures. It also provides a revolving reel of social media posts encouraging buyers to engage with their products using the #MyHiuts hashtag.

Away from its product options, Hiut Denim has incredibly strong community engagement. The company makes 200 pairs of jeans a week and offers free repairs for life. It also has community challenges/events such as No Wash Club and the Makers + Mavericks event.

Overall, Huit Denim & Co has created a unique personality and cult following united by a love for classy jeans.

BlackMilk Clothing

blackmilkclothing.com

What they do well

• Clear branding with a focus on social and environmental-consciousness
• Collaborations with pop-culture brands to drive buyer imagination
• Interactive product/collections pages with helpful details

BlackMilk is an Australian brand based in Brisbane. The store specializes in producing and selling female clothing of all types, from activewear to dresses, kimonos, pants, and jumpsuits.

One of the standout features of BlackMilk is its brand story, which showcases the company’s mission to bring out the best of women, whether that’s their wild, wacky, or adventurous side. Through its products and on its website, the company showcases the ethnic stories of the community that it operates in.

It does this through various ways, such as by using product pictures modeled by females of various local ethnicities. The images also show the models’ faces, which helps give the products more personality. In addition, the company is really clear on the sustainable methods it uses to produce clothing and how it cares for the environment throughout the process.

Besides its branding, BlackMilk offers various features to help drive buyer engagement. While the theme and page layout are a bit busy, it uses functional features such as product reels on the homepage that show currently trending items and all-time favorites.

The collections pages also have helpful product listings that show item name, picture, available sizes and pricing. In addition, hovering on a product listing automatically shows another picture of the item to help buyers see a different perspective without clicking.

The company offers 60-day returns and 10% student discounts to encourage buyers to take a bet on their products. In addition, BlackMilk’s collaborations with pop-culture brands such as Pokemon, The Witcher, Avatar, Care Bears and the Legend of Zelda helps capture buyer imagination and drives sales.

Asphalte

asphalte.com/en-us/h

What they do well

• Innovative “preordering” model that removes the need for stock and eliminates waste
• Co-creation sales model that lets buyers join the product creation process
• Bold and attractive banner image, cool product images, and a compelling brand identity

Asphalte is an innovative Europe-based mens’ clothing brand that brings a unique take to fashion e-commerce. Unlike most fashion stores that tend to maintain stock or procure their inventory elsewhere from already existing stock, Asphalte operates on a pure preordering basis.

The company does not keep stock. Instead, buyers make orders in advance of production and then receive their items at a later time. One reason why Asphalte does this is to combat fast fashion and unbridled consumption which are significant issues in the fashion industry. This also helps cut down on costs, allowing the company to offer more affordable products.

Asphalte also has an interesting co-creation sales model where buyers can participate in the design process. It starts with a quiz where buyers rate various product designs on a scale of 0-10. It’s incredibly fun and a nice way to let buyers take ownership of their own journey. The quiz page is also well-designed and really interactive.

The company uses amazing product images shot against a variety of backgrounds that clearly highlight the best features of each item. It uses a product reel showing discounts on the homepage that offers rapid access to fan favorites and helps shorten the buyer journey.

Taylor Stitch

taylorstitch.com

What they do well

• Highly-focused branding dedicated to showcasing durable responsibly-made clothing
• Top quality products that come backed with a guarantee of durability
• Lovely website with added-on features such as discount popups and showcase

Taylor Stitch is a mens’ clothing store that provides durable clothing made for all seasons and activities — whether that’s fishing, surfing, or typing away at a desk. The company, like many on this list, makes great clothing but doesn’t stop at that. They also care about the environment and they make this really clear.

Taylor Stitch’s branding leverages the durability of the store’s clothing. They guarantee that their products will “wear in, not out.” Their production process is intentionally designed to ensure the best possible fabrics and products while minimizing their environmental impact. Part of this process also includes using recycled material where possible.

The store’s design is clean with high quality images and easy navigation. It also uses automatic “out of stock” notices right from the collections pages, thereby saving buyers fruitless clicks. Like other stores on this list, the product thumbnails have a showcase feature that provides a different perspective of each product when a mouse hovers on it.

Once you enter the website, you’ll see a discount popup offering up to 20% on the first purchase. This encourages immediate action from buyers and serves to shorten the buyer journey. An effect of this is increased conversion and higher sales.

Gymshark

us.shop.gymshark.com

What they do well

• Clear focus on a specific niche: gym apparel and accessories
• Use of humor in brand voice to make the company more relatable
• Close-knit community united by a love of conditioning

Gymshark is a United Kingdom-based brand for all conditioning enthusiasts. The store offers comfortable and hard-wearing gym wear for everyone. Every aspect of the store’s branding and voice doubles down on the core value they’re providing: reliable gym wear that complements your workout.

Gymshark has a quirky brand voice that is candid but with some wry humor. For example, the store promises leggings and shorts that offer “more options than your dating life” and sports bras that are “more trustworthy, supportive and reliable than your ex.”

Community and family are key themes that Gymshark tries to showcase through its store. As part of these values, the company offers various discounts on its store such as a students’ discount and a veterans’ discount.

Negative Underwear

negativeunderwear.com

What they do well

• Distinct niche and an unwavering commitment to one clear product style
• Great photography and creative use of white space to make products pop
• Well-positioned menu bar that offers access to all pages

Negative offers a simple promise: minimalist female underwear that is stylish and comfortable. Just like the name, the company cuts out all the frilly, non-functional adornments that may typically be found on female underwear. Instead, it leaves undergarments that prioritize comfort, quality and function.

The beautiful product images and creative use of white space on the website presents a striking welcome for visitors. The images make it easy to appreciate just how nice and comfortable the products must feel.

The store also offers other features to make for a good buyer journey. Visitors can set their currency and location from the top right of each page.

Negative also does an interesting thing with their product pages. Visitors have the option to view what each item looks like on different models and in different sizes. This way, it’s easier to appreciate how the product might look on the person that will wear it.

You Too Can Build a Superb Shopify Clothing Store — Here’s How

Start with a plan

Identify your niche and the type of products that you want to sell. As you’ve seen from the stores discussed above, picking a clear niche can be a great way to define a brand identity and tell a unique story.

Create a Shopify account

Shopify has 4 plans to choose from, beginning with the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans. These plans are available at different pricing, from $32 per month to $399 per month. However, keep in mind that the level of resources available to you with each account differs, so spend some time thinking about what best fits your business/growth needs.

Choose the right theme

Lean into your unique service proposition and product niche when picking a theme. Examples of fashion-focused themes that you can choose from include:

• Responsive
• Fashionopolism
• Minimal
• Radiance
• Couture
• Vantage

Source products intelligently

Your products will make or mar your brand. So, it’s critical to ensure that you’re offering only the best quality items. Work with high quality suppliers to source raw materials and finished products.

Market with confidence

Lastly, find innovative ways to market your store. Whether that’s through creative community events, challenges, social media posts or working with influencers, there are many ways to get your products out there.

Conclusion

So that’s it. You’ve gained unique insight into what makes some of the impressive Shopify clothing stores tick. Hopefully, you can find inspiration from these stores in setting up your fashion storefront for success.