One of the most popular categories for WooCommerce stores is fashion and apparel — you can sell anything from jewelry to scarves to suits to baby clothes with a WordPress store built using WooCommerce, Storefront, and Galleria.
Galleria is a Storefront child theme perfect for fashion and design stores. Monochrome and minimalist, it gives sites a classy look and is optimized for eCommerce.
How to build a WooCommerce store
The basic building blocks for a WooCommerce store are:
- A WordPress site.
- The WooCommerce plugin, installed and activated.
- A WooCommerce theme (and a child theme if you’d like to add a specific ‘look’, or customizations).
- WooCommerce Extensions to add features and functionality
To code or not to code?
There are hundreds of themes available from marketplaces and theme designers, ranging from simples sites that are ready to go as-is to more complex themes that take some configuring.
Storefront is a free theme — and we built it, so you can be sure it works brilliantly with WooCommerce. It consistently rates well on WordPress.org and is:
- Flexible and customizable
- Fast-loading (never miss a sale!)
- Built for eCommerce
- Responsive
- Enhanced for SEO
Storefront sets you up with a strong foundation upon which to build. Once setup is done, you’ll see a screen offering options for extending your store:
Depending on how comfortable you are with HTML and code, you have two broad approaches to Storefront customization:
- Customize the code yourself. We recommend this for developers only. Check out our WooCommerce Theme Developer handbook for best practices.
- Use a child theme and add extensions. Learn how to set up and use a child theme
There are a range of Storefront child themes available on WooCommerce.com. In the Woo world of fashion and apparel stores, the most popular choice is Galleria:
- View a Galleria demo (out-of-the-box, with no extras enabled)
- Read the Galleria documentation.
- Purchase Galleria now for $39.
Once you have added your child theme, it’s time to populate the site with your content. In WordPress, this means:
- Editing the default Welcome page.
- Setting up your menu(s).
- Adding extra pages, such as a Contact and About page.
- Adding social icons and other widgets, using the Customizer.
Customize Storefront with Powerpack
Customizing Storefront’s finer details requires editing the CSS — learn more at CSS structure. We know everyone isn’t comfortable doing this, though, so Storefront is also customizable without touching code using Storefront Powerpack.
Take a look at this Galleria demo site — you’ll notice it looks different from a straightforward installation of Storefront and Galleria. That’s because Storefront Powerpack is enabled:
Powerpack gives you the ability to customize and style nearly every aspect of Storefront without ever touching any code.
Powerpack enables you to:
- More easily configure the Header layout
- Add styles and customize the appearance of your store
- Toggle between checkout options
- Edit your Homepage on the fly
- Edit Product Page configurations globally.
Beyond Powerpack, there are Storefront Extensions. Extensions are a bit like LEGOs; they’re a modular way to add features to your store. Each extension switches on something specific and is available separately, so you can get exactly what you need while you budget, build, and grow. For example:
- Storefront Parallax Hero: Add a customizable hero element to your homepage.
- Storefront Mega Menus: Transform any top-level menu item into a full-width dropdown.
- Storefront Reviews: Increase conversions by highlighting specific product reviews.
Browse all Storefront extensions and pick your favorites, or get a range of our favorite range of Storefront extensions in a bundle for $69.
WooCommerce stores using Storefront with Galleria
Ready for some inspiration? We’ve chosen our favorite WooCommerce stores designed with Storefront and Galleria to give you an idea of what you can achieve. (Remember, though, that a few are using custom CSS and extensions to achieve the final result.)
Sacotin.com sell patterns for creating bags and wallets:
“I create bags that I would like to wear and have a very eclectic taste for bags, so you will find patterns with very different styles. The bag is for me the ultimate accessory, the most fun, the one that asserts a personality – play with a style, a code, to include a bit of fantasy, to have fun. And then the bag is useful to carry little things, so it must also be practical!”
Madame-melon.com is a platform for women artisans around the world to sell unique pieces and generate an income. The creators of the company are passionate about story-telling and against fast-fashion. Of each sale, 5% is donated towards the emancipation of women.
Barracudamoon.com jewelry pieces are handmade with joy in the designer’s home studio in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. All pieces are made with 14ct gold filled materials and only natural stones, and the collection features local treasures such as natural sea glass and antique Charleston porcelain found in the earth of historic downtown.
Elizabeth-rose.com is an award-winning, independent boutique located in the beautiful historic market town of Tenterden, Kent, and is led by a brother and sister team, Michael and Helen. Established in 1979, the ethos behind Elizabeth Rose remains constant – to provide quality fashion for real women, with exceptional customer service.
On Indriyaclothing.com you’ll find a beautiful selection of earth friendly clothing and apparel: “Beautiful pieces and noble materials have always attracted me. I like simple cuts, refined and especially light. Indeed, I live on a tropical island where the weather is nice (and hot!) 360 days a year! As it is quite difficult to find quality pieces at a reasonable price and adapted to the heat of the summer, I decided to start and create my own ready-to-wear line from which Indriya was born.”
freyaandfox.co.nz s a New Zealand based online store, bringing fun and practical baby clothes to the world. By curating ther collection with little ones in mind, they ensure that everything is of the highest quality, while also being fun, modern and practical. 
Originalshavecompany.com offers some of the highest quality brands from all over the world, including Edwin Jagger, Feather, Merkur, Simpsons and more. Their site includes customer reviews and a top-rated products section to guide new customers.
Start a fashion store on WooCommerce today
WooCommerce is an open source eCommerce platform for entrepreneurs who value the ability to customize their sites and retain full control. Being hands-on is not everyone’s cup of tea, but building a WooCommerce store with Storefront — and learning a little about child themes — can give you a rewarding, future-proof adventure in eCommerce.
Inspired? Start a fashion and apparel store today. And we’d love to hear feedback on your experience in the Comments or as product reviews.
