When thinking about business ideas, one of the top things marketers consider is going for an apparel line — hoodies, shirts, joggers, and such.
No doubt about that as the global online clothing industry is anticipated to reach a total value of $1.2 trillion by the year 2025, a massive advancement compared to the 2021 overall market value of $668 billion.
So in the rapidly growing apparel industry, what does it take to build the best Shopify hoodie store?
We’ve listed nine Shopify hoodie stores you can take inspiration from, plus a step-by-step guide to leveraging Shopify hoodies. Each store comes with unique features and design elements that contribute to their reputation as some of the best Shopify stores, setting benchmarks in the industry.
Let’s get started:
Shopify Hoodie Store Examples For Your Inspiration
Your hoodie Shopify store should reflect who you are as a brand, the values you stand by, and should indicate your commitment to quality.
We’ve listed below excellent examples to take inspiration from when building a hoodies Shopify store.
Example #1: Tentree
What sets Tentree ahead?
Tentree is devoted to sustainable practices and environmental impact.
For every item purchased from their store, Tentree plants trees in an effort to give back to the planet. They also source organic or recycled materials for their apparel, ensuring green manufacturing and comfortable products.
About Tentree’s Shopify store:
Tentree, as well as the other hoodie stores in this list, have the eCommerce-standard features on their product page: variant swatches, sizing charts, testimonials, displayed star ratings, and collapsible sections.
So we’ll be going over what sets them apart from other stores.
Three things make Tentree’s Shopify store stand out:
- Tentree leverages About Us pages to effectively communicate their mission and cause, reinforcing their commitment to sustainability. There are six About Us pages dedicated to this message.
- They organize their hoodies, sweatshirts, zip-ups, and print hoodies by collection. This makes their catalogue more navigable and organized.
- Tentree adds a unique section in its product page template. It features their commitment to sustainability-centered practices.
Example #2: Free Fly Apparel
What sets Free Fly Apparel ahead?
Free Fly makes breathable sun hoodies that protect the wearer from the sun. The brand makes its hoodies (and other outdoor wear) from bamboo. From this, Free Fly manufactures custom fabrics that are comfortable for outdoor leisure.
About Free Fly Apparel’s Shopify store:
Targeting fishers and daring outdoors sea hobbyists, Free Fly has fishing-related media scattered throughout their page.
- In its main menu, Free Fly displays the parent collections: Men, Women, Kids, and Sun Protection. That last one contains apparel that protects users from harmful UV rays.
- Both the Men and Women parent collections have a sub-collection named Sun Hoodies. It’s also placed on the top of both the Men and Women collections’ drop-down menus, telling shoppers that the Sun Hoodies collection is Free Fly’s specialty line.
- Free Fly makes use of visible tags, such as UPF 20+, UPF 50+, 145 GSM, 270 GSM, etc., acting as the products’ specifications. They understand that their market has a keen eye for these features.
Example #3: Bad
What sets Bad Work Wear ahead?
Bad (the name of the company, not a degrading adjective) Work Wear focuses on work wear hoodies, as evidenced by their hi-visibility nature.
Bad’s workwear caters to a wide range of occupations that require high-visibility equipment and basic weather protection. These include ship crew. road workers, airport ground staff, and couriers, among other blue-collar roles.
About Bad Work Wear’s Shopify Store:
With this in mind, Bad adopts a rugged, callous branding, as seen with the imagery on their site.
- Their site is relatively basic and minimal.
- Their collection pages display their wares in a grid format on a plain white background. Some may see this as boring and uninspired. But for hi-res gear, this is an effective way to communicate the items’ standout feature.
Example #4: Mudgear
What sets Mudgear ahead?
Mudgear is a one-hoodie Shopify store, but it's packed with some rugged features, such as a fleece lining, a water-repellant exterior, and overall durable construction.
Catered to athletes, trekkers, and other offroad adventurers, Mudgear sells performance wear that can weather vicious climates and rough terrain.
About Mudgear’s Shopify Store:
- Mudgear’s Shopify store contains a blog. This helps its apparel store appear for more search queries, as well as provide actionable insights to its existing customer base.
- Since Mudgear only has one hoodie, they can take their time to craft a unique and specific Shopify page template just for that one hoodie. The result— Mudgear’s “All-Weather Warrior Hoodie” shines with its product page showing:
- A featured five-star review banner
- A YouTube video specifically showcasing the hoodie
- A dynamic hoodie feature section that gives the page some visual depth.
If you’re a one-product Shopify store, you may take inspiration from Mudgear’s product page.
Example #5: Gymshark
What sets Gymshark ahead?
Gymshark is a gym wear eCommerce store dedicated to providing quality performance gear for gym goers and fitness buffs. These include a wide range of hoodie styles—from cropped hoodies to hoodie vests; from oversized fits to slim fits.
The store positions itself as the go-to outlet for gym apparel, communicating perseverance, health, and an active lifestyle with its brand.
About Gymshark’s Shopify store:
Gymshark’s store is packed with lifestyle shots featuring men and women doing yoga, running, or lifting weights. This reinforces Gymshark’s branding as a fitness wear brand.
- It has a wide range of products that are neatly organized into collections and subcollections, making navigation and product discovery easier for the shopper.
- There’s a robust item-filtering function that lets shoppers narrow down the results they want to see.
- The testimonials are immediately beneath the product description, as opposed to the typical placement of having it at the bottom.
- Gymshark upsells other wares relevant to the product.
- Gymshark has a blog containing fitness and exercise topics such as ‘The Best Low Glute Exercises,’ or ‘Level Up Your Upper Body Warm Up.’ These provide valuable insights to site visitors, improving brand trust and reputation.
Example #6: Zanerobe
What sets Zanerobe ahead?
Established in 2003, the Australian apparel company has established more than two decades of continued trendsetting and contemporary expression.
They pride themselves on low environmental impact whilst maintaining a high degree of quality craftsmanship and service.
Zanerobe’s entire line of hoodies features a solid-color yet puffy, oversized, cozy appearance. This makes Zanerobe’s hoodies the perfect lazy, laid-back loungewear.
About Zanerobe’s Shopify store:
- A slideshow hero banner shows visitors brand value propositions, timely promos, and highlighted collections.
- The only other section on the homepage is a ‘New Arrivals’ section, making for a homepage that’s just as basic as its hoodies.
- The product page features high-quality, white backdrop images.
- The varied product images highlight the product 1) as part of an outfit and 2) the product very close up, showcasing its detailed quality.
- Instead of using different color variants, each color option is a unique Shopify product.
Example #7: District of Clothing
What sets District Clothing ahead?
District of Clothing stands out from other print-on-demand clothing companies with its striking slogans; the messages incorporated on each hoodie draw customers’ eyes to the company's garments. Each item in their collection has its own story to tell, and customers can be sure they are buying something made with care and quality materials.
In addition, the company also donates proceeds from selected items to various social causes, allowing customers to make a meaningful impact with their purchases.
About District of Clothing’s Shopify Store:
- District of Clothing uses the Spotlight Shopify theme. Immediately upon landing on the homepage, visitors see a grid of products. This is not a typical eCommerce store layout.
- Their product page is cleaner and more straightforward than the other examples in this list.
- Instead of product swatches, District of Clothing uses a dropdown for its variant selector.
Example #8: Bee Inspired Clothing
What sets Bee Inspired Clothing ahead?
Customer-centered practice. Bee Inspired Clothing is known for its superior quality and unrivaled fit. The company puts the customer first, taking on board feedback and comments for continuous improvement, with a total customer reviews rating of 4.5 out of 5.
About Bee Inspired Clothing’s Shopify Store:
- The brand has a student discount program, offering premium streetwear at an affordable price.
- They have an ambassador program where you can get a 10% commission every time you refer your friends with a unique discount code.
- The Shopify product media takes up a whopping 66% of screen real estate. This ensures that each of their hoodies is truly front and center.
- They have a ‘Model is also wearing’ upsell function. This allows Bee Inspired to anchor their upsell offers on a cohesive, well-put-together outfit.
Example #9: Craft Clothing
What sets Craft Clothing ahead?
Craft Clothing is a custom goods manufacturer and supplier based in the Philippines. The company has developed an expert team that can handle any customization requirement.
Craft Clothing provides flexible payment options such as bank deposit, cash, check, or credit card and a customer-friendly return policy for any issues or reviews that may arise. With Craft Clothing's expertise in apparel production, you can be sure that your custom clothing orders will be handled with care, ensuring that you get the best products and value for your money.
About Craft Clothing’s Shopify Store:
Despite not being a retail or eCommerce business, Craft Clothing effectively leverages the Shopify platform for its B2B hoodie and apparel services.
Some of its website’s standout features include the following:
- A quick, easy-to-follow three-step guide on its homepage. This gives site visitors an immediate idea of how the company works.
- ‘Request a Quote’ CTA takes site visitors to a submission form where they can indicate specific order details.
- A pricing table that shows site visitors the company’s tiered pricing.
- A blog that will help the site’s visibility and authority with B2B prospects.
How to Build a Shopify Hoodie Store Business
We’ve compacted a guide to entering the Shopify hoodie industry into four easy steps. These aren’t a strictly linear path—the steps are interchangeable, depending on your available resources and what you already have set up.
Your hoodies Shopify store journey might look different from others.
Step #1: Do your Competitor Analysis
Before you begin your Shopify hoodie business venture, you’ll first need to assess if there’s a current market need for the hoodies you plan to offer.
To gain perspective on the industry’s current state, you’ll need to analyze your competitors. Just by looking at your competitors, you’ll be able to deduce the following information and more:
- What needs are currently being fulfilled in the industry?
- What needs aren’t being met yet in the industry?
- What styles and designs does the market prefer?
- Is there a target demographic that hasn’t been catered to yet?
After gathering these insights, you can position your hoodies in a way that allows you to penetrate the market and compete with the bigger, more established sharks. What will your business model be? What will your pricing strategy be? How will you be different?
Perhaps you’ll price your wares lower. Or maybe you’ll come up with your own unique design style. You might leverage people’s moral compass and indicate that you don’t use questionable and controversial labor practices in your assembly line.
Setting yourself apart as a different value offering from what’s dominating the market should be central to your business. So figure out what this “you factor” should be before starting.
But to do that effectively, you’ll need to assess your competitors.
Looking up desired target keywords (e.g., “gym hoodies,” “summer hoodies,” etc.) on search engines and social media will yield plenty of insights into who your competitors are, what their marketing approach is, and what sort of hold they have in the hoodie industry. At the base level, this does plenty for competitor analysis. But there are more advanced, detailed, and nuanced methods to competitor analysis—some even involving subscription-based tools.
You can perform competitor analysis yourself, or you can outsource well-known firms for more detailed studies.
Step #2: Finalize Business Ideas
Thorough and proper market research will allow you to discover and establish your niche — from the type of hoodie to the style you plan to go with.
Of course, you'll need a business name and a logo, something creative and catchy that resonates with your vision and mission. For the logo, you can inquire with a graphic designer for convenience.
You'll also need a mission statement and brand description. Once you decide on your brand’s personality and values, you can set up social media accounts. This will help you build a community around your brand and establish a presence on the social media space.
You have to carefully settle all these important details in order to move to the next step.
Step #3: Identify the Business Model
Five business models you can adopt for your hoodies business in Shopify include the following:
- Dropshipping. You’ll only have to handle listing the supplier’s products on your Shopify store, as well as marketing. Your supplier will handle the inventory management, fulfillment, and shipping orders to customers.
- Print-on-Demand. This is similar to dropshipping, the main difference being you can add custom designs to the clothing items.
- Private Labeling. Unlike dropshipping, you have more flexibility with private label stock since you can modify them, create your own packaging, and fulfill orders with your own shipping rates.
- Cut-and-Sew. This allows you to be in full charge of the design, colors, quantity, pricing, and material used—you may even release different types of hoodies based on the season.
- Made-To-Order. Merchants hand-make each piece of clothing item. This attracts a more premium-paying type of customer—those who pay an extra buck for personalization, uniqueness, and individuality.
Step #4: Set Up and Build the Shopify Store
After you’ve finalized what your business will be and what model it will adopt, you’ll need a Shopify store to start selling on Shopify and use it as your hoodies’ online sales channel. Here’s a quick, step-by-step guide to setting up and building your Shopify store.
- Sign up for your Shopify store for as low as $29 monthly. They offer a three-day free trial and your first month for only $1 (which you can avail of up to three times; for a total of three $1 months).
- Add your products to the Shopify platform. From the Shopify admin panel, go to Products - Add Product to add a product.
- Set up payments. Go to Settings - Payments to set up your payment channels.
- Set up shipping. Go to Settings - Shipping and delivery to customize your shipping profiles and rates.
- Build your Shopify store. Go to Online Store - Themes. Choose a theme, then click Customize next to it.
- You’ll be taken to the Shopify Theme Editor. This is Shopify’s creative suite where you get to shape and mold the entirety of your online store and website.
- Once you’re done editing, click Save.
Conclusion
These nine hoodie Shopify stores are just a few of the many clothing companies available today. Each company has its own unique features and services, allowing you to find the perfect fit for your eCommerce store.
Whether you’re looking for quality Shopify hoodies, cost-effectiveness, customization options, or charitable initiatives, these companies offer something for everyone. Understanding what is Shopify and how it works for hoodie businesses can provide clarity on how it empowers businesses to create impactful online stores. These Shopify hoodie businesses exemplify how the platform helps deliver exceptional customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive growth.
By considering the features and services each company provides, you can make an informed decision when selecting a supplier for your Shopify hoodies store.
Remember, when it comes to choosing an e-commerce platform and supplier as your inspiration, you want to choose a company that offers quality products and services that meet your needs. With the right choice, you can create a unique and stylish store that will make a lasting impression on your customers.