Shopify for Australian fashion brands

A general-purpose theme will show your products. It will not answer 'will this fit?' Fashion stores that convert well put fit information where the decision is made: model measurements, a size guide that opens in context, clear fabric detail and a stated returns policy near the add to cart button.

Our concept store Marlowe Linen shows how that looks in practice. It is a concept we designed, not a client, so we do not quote results for it, but you can see the size and fabric patterns working in a full store.

Australian fashion trades on a calendar. EOFY clearance, Click Frenzy, Black Friday, Boxing Day and the last Christmas postage dates each need different prep. We plan discounts, shipping cut-off messaging, email flows and speed checks ahead of each one.

• Set Christmas postage cut-off dates from Australia Post's published dates, and show them in the announcement bar.
• Use Shopify Flow to tag sale orders so the warehouse can pick them first.
• Test checkout on mobile with Afterpay and Zip a week before the event.
• Pre-build the abandoned cart and browse abandonment flows in Klaviyo. See Klaviyo flows for Shopify.

Most Australian fashion stores ship by Australia Post or Aramex, often with free shipping over a threshold you choose. We set rates and thresholds in Shopify, and GST so prices show correctly. NZ is the usual first export market, and Shopify Markets handles NZ pricing and duties messaging. See Shopify Markets for selling to New Zealand.

A new fashion brand usually starts on the Launch package, while an established label with its own look moves to Custom. See pricing, or talk to us.

The product page is where a fashion sale is won or lost, so every question a shopper has before checkout should be answered on it. The goal is to remove the reasons to leave and to email you instead.

• Price with GST included, and Afterpay or Zip instalment messaging directly under it.
• A size selector that shows which sizes are in stock, with out-of-stock sizes greyed out and a back-in-stock sign-up beside them.
• Model height and the size the model is wearing, next to a size guide with measurements in centimetres.
• Fabric composition and care instructions in plain words, kept in metafields so every product uses the same layout.
• A fit note based on real return reasons, such as 'runs small, size up if between sizes'.
• A gallery with on-body shots, a close-up of the fabric and a flat lay, with variant images that switch when the colour changes.

Reviews help most when they carry fit feedback. Judge.me, Okendo and Stamped can all ask buyers how a garment fitted, which gives the next shopper something more useful than a star rating. Keep the page light, because image-heavy pages are where mobile speed slips. Our speed guide covers how we keep them quick.

Shopify's built-in features cover a lot, so we add an app only when it does a job the platform cannot. A typical fashion store ends up with a short list.

• Shopify Search & Discovery for filters on colour, size, price and availability, and for search synonyms such as 'jumper' and 'sweater'.
• Klaviyo for welcome, abandoned cart and back-in-stock emails. See Klaviyo flows for Shopify.
• Kiwi Sizing or a similar size chart app, if your size guides vary a lot by product type.
• A returns app such as AfterShip Returns or Loop, so customers can start an exchange and be offered store credit first.
• Shopify Flow to tag sale orders, flag large orders and notify the team when a size runs low.
• A reviews app, either Judge.me, Okendo or Stamped, chosen for the fit questions it supports.

Every app adds some code to the storefront, so we test speed after each install and remove anything that does not earn its place. If you already run apps that slow the site, an audit under Shopify apps and integrations is a good place to start.