Setting Up Shopify for a Clothing Brand

Compare plans by the features you will use

Shopify's main plans are Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus (see the Shopify pricing page for current costs and any trial). The plans differ less in what you can sell than in how much each sale costs and how many people and places the store supports. Every plan includes core inventory, multi-currency selling and tax calculation, so a first-time brand rarely needs the top tiers for features alone.

What changes as you move up:

To compare, estimate a realistic month: number of orders and average order value. For each plan, add the subscription to the processing cost of that month's sales (and the third-party fee if you will not use Shopify Payments). The plan with the lowest total at your expected volume is the right one, and the point where the next plan's lower rates cover its higher subscription is your upgrade trigger. Recalculate after each big drop, because merch sales are lumpy.

Pick a theme that handles apparel

Themes control how a customer picks a size, sees a color and finds a product, so test them with apparel data rather than the demo store. The Shopify Theme Store filters by industry (Clothing is one), by catalog size and by feature. The features that matter most for merch:

• Color swatches and swatch filters. Customers choose a color by sight, not by reading "Heather Military Green". Swatches also show which colors exist from the collection grid.
• Quick view. Lets a shopper choose a size from the collection page, useful on drop day when people buy several items fast.
• Stock counter. Shows low stock on a variant. Use it honestly: a limited drop that really is limited is worth showing.
• Mega menu. Helps once you have several garment types and past drops to navigate.
• Countdown timer. Useful for announced drops, harmless when off.
• Combined listing support. Shopify's Combined Listings app shows separate products (for example one product per color) as a single listing with each keeping its own page; the app is limited to Plus and enterprise plans.

Size charts are not a Theme Store filter, so check each theme's product page settings. Shopify's own metafields documentation uses a clothing size chart shown as a pop-up as its example, and themes that support dynamic sources can show one without code. The variants and size charts guide explains the options.

When you shortlist two or three themes, load one real product with every size and color you sell, then check on a phone: the variant picker, the sold-out state of a single size, the size chart, image switching when a color is chosen and the add-to-cart button position. Test on a phone first: a theme that hides the size selector below three screens of images costs sales.

Structure the catalog before you load it

The usual structure is one product per design per garment style, with size and color as options. "Logo Tee" on a midweight blank and "Logo Tee" on a heavyweight boxy blank are two products, because they have different size charts, fabric facts and prices. Sizes and colors of the same garment are variants of one product. The variants guide covers limits, SKUs and when to split colors into separate products.

Assign every product a product category from Shopify's standard taxonomy, such as Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Clothing Tops > Shirts. The category gives the product category metafields for attributes like size, neckline, sleeve length, fabric, color and target gender. Connecting those metafields to your size and color options keeps naming consistent, feeds filters and analytics, helps channels such as Google and Facebook that expect standard categories, and can affect tax treatment.

Collections group products for the storefront. Shopify's current collections model can add products automatically by conditions, add products by hand, and exclude products by conditions in one collection (collections help). A practical set for merch:

• One collection per garment type (tees, hoodies, headwear, accessories), filled automatically by product type or category.
• One collection per drop or season, so a launch has a single page to link.
• A "core" or "always available" collection for the styles you restock.
• An archive or sold-out collection if you want past drops visible for credibility, excluded from the main shop pages.

Navigation follows from that: a main menu by garment type, a link to the current drop, and the size guide and shipping policy in the footer.

Filters come from Shopify's free Search & Discovery app. Size and color can be filters taken straight from your product options, alongside availability, price and product type. A store can have up to 25 filters, and the theme has to support them (filter limits). An in-stock filter paired with a size filter is the most useful combination for apparel: someone who wears a 2XL wants to see only what they can buy.

Payments, taxes and policies

Payments. Shopify Payments is the built-in processor. If you use another provider, Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top of that provider's charges, as described above. Shopify also lets you choose when a card is charged: automatically at checkout (the default), automatically when the whole order is fulfilled, or manually. A manual or on-fulfillment capture only works if you ship within the authorization window, which is seven days on Shopify Payments (authorization and capture). That matters if you take pre-orders, covered in running pre-orders on Shopify.

Taxes. Shopify calculates tax from default rates that you can override, and in the US you can choose Shopify Tax or manual tax settings. Registering, filing and remitting stays your responsibility unless you use Shopify Tax with automated filing (tax overview). In the US, where you must collect depends on where your buyers are and how much you sell there, so get an accountant's view before your first big drop, not after.

Policies. Shopify supports a return policy, privacy policy, terms of service, shipping policy, legal notice and subscription policy, can generate templates, and links them from the checkout footer, with the shipping policy also linked on product and cart pages (store policies). Templates are a starting point; you are bound by what you publish. For apparel, the return policy needs to answer the questions merch buyers actually ask:

• Can I exchange for a different size, and who pays shipping both ways?
• Are limited drops or pre-orders final sale?
• What condition must a returned item be in (unworn, unwashed, tags attached)?
• What happens with a misprint or damaged item, and do I need to send a photo?

Plan production and fulfillment early

Decide who ships before the store goes live, because it changes your inventory setup. If you ship from your own shelf, one location is enough. If a printer or warehouse ships some or all orders, each becomes a location, products are assigned to it, and orders reach it through an app or an email-based service. Connecting a fulfillment partner and setting up shipping walks through it. For the wider choice between doing it yourself, a 3PL, print-on-demand or your printer, see merch fulfillment options.

Launch checklist

1. Products: every variant has a price, SKU, weight and stock count; sold-out sizes show correctly.
2. Size charts: present on every apparel product, in inches with centimeters, measured flat. See t-shirt size charts.
3. Product pages: photos, fit notes, fabric weight and content, care; product pages that sell apparel has the full list.
4. Collections, menus and filters work on mobile.
5. Shipping rates tested for one tee, a heavy hoodie order and an international address.
6. Taxes configured and checked with your accountant.
7. Policies published, with the return and exchange terms written for apparel.
8. Order confirmation and shipping emails edited with your brand voice and realistic ship times.
9. Test orders placed with Shopify Payments test mode or the test gateway, or a real order refunded (test orders). Turn test mode off afterwards, because live orders cannot go through while it is on.
10. Domain connected, password page removed, and the launch plan ready: see launching a clothing drop and email and SMS for merch drops.

If you are still deciding between Shopify and another builder, choosing an e-commerce platform for merch compares the main options, and how to start a clothing brand puts the store in the context of the whole launch.

Useful for: clothing brands, creators, bands.