Online clothing store: how to start, sizes, photos and returns

An online clothing store starts with a clear niche, a catalogue where size and colour are variants with their own stock, a size chart in centimetres and consistent photos of every model. Anywhere in the EU, shoppers can withdraw from an online purchase within 14 days without a reason, so accurate measurements and honest photos protect your margin more than any discount. A new store on CloudCart costs €1/month for the first 3 months.

This guide is for fashion brands, boutiques and resellers selling clothes to consumers in the EU, whether you ship from Vienna, Warsaw, Milan or Prague. The admin paths are from CloudCart, the ecommerce platform used by stores across Europe. The legal rules come from EU law; national law can add to them, so have a lawyer confirm your terms. The general steps for any type of store are in how to create an online store.

How to start an online clothing store: 8 steps

The order matters: you photograph by variant, and you start advertising once returns are sorted.

1. Choose a niche and a customer. For example, office dresses in sizes 38 to 48.
2. Secure your stock. Your own production, a wholesale supplier, imports or second-hand clothing.
3. Build the catalogue with variants. Size and colour are variants, each with its own stock, SKU and barcode.
4. Add size charts. One per category and brand, in centimetres.
5. Photograph consistently. The same light, background and angles for every model and colour.
6. Write your return and exchange terms. The 14-day right of withdrawal, who pays for the return shipment and how a size is exchanged.
7. Switch on delivery and payment. Courier to the door or a pickup point, card payments and the local methods your shoppers use.
8. Launch your first channel. Instagram and Facebook for a new collection, Google Shopping for searches by model.

Where to get stock: own brand, wholesale or second-hand

Stock comes from one of four sources, and each decides what the catalogue looks like.

Model	What the catalogue looks like	Strength	Watch out for
Your own clothing brand (own production)	Few models, many sizes and colours	The highest margin, your own story and photos	Samples and production runs cost money before the first sale; the fibre composition label is your responsibility
Wholesale supplier	Many models, stock per size from the supplier	A quick start and a wide range	Other stores sell the same models, so photos and descriptions decide the sale
Imports from outside the EU	Batches with fixed size runs	A low purchase price	Import VAT and customs duty, labels in the language of each country you sell to, sizes in a different system
Second-hand and vintage clothing	Every item is unique, quantity 1	One-off pieces and a loyal community	Every item is measured and photographed separately; the legal guarantee also covers used goods sold by a business

Ask a wholesale supplier for an XML or CSV file with size, colour, stock and images, so stock per size updates on its own. Imports from outside the EU are covered in importing goods from China: customs and VAT.

How to set up sizes and colours as variants

Size and colour are variants of one product: a T-shirt in 5 sizes and 4 colours is one product with 20 variants, each with its own stock, price, SKU and barcode. A size written only in the description cannot track stock.

In CloudCart you create a parameter once for the whole store in Products → Variants, with the + Add variant button. In the product editor you choose Product with variants and enter the price, SKU and stock of each combination in Manage variants. The full guide, field by field, is in product catalogue management: variants, properties and brands.

Which option type to choose for clothing

Parameter	Option type	Why
Colour	Color sample	The shopper sees a dot in the colour without reading
Pattern, print, fabric	Image sample (a swatch with a photo)	A check or floral print cannot be shown with one colour
Size S to XXL or 36 to 48	Radio button	All sizes in one row, sold-out ones visible at once
Bras (75B, 80C)	Numeric alpha	A grid where each cell is one size
Jeans (waist × length)	2D schema	Two axes, for example W32 × L34

One product has up to 3 parameters and up to 500 combinations. With Modify images you link the photos of the black colour to every black variant, so the main photo changes when the shopper picks black.

To show every colour as its own card in the category ("Anna dress, burgundy"), use Show each variant as a separate product in the product listing, a paid feature that depends on your plan (see the pricing page).

A size chart that reduces returns

A size chart reduces returns when it shows the measurements of the garment itself in centimetres and tells shoppers how to measure themselves. "S, M, L" alone does not help: one brand's M is another brand's L, and size labels differ between countries.

What the chart should contain

• Measurements in centimetres. Chest, waist, hips and length for tops; waist, hips, length and inside leg for trousers.
• How to measure. Three lines of text and a diagram.
• The model's measurements. "The model is 176 cm tall and wears S".
• The fit. Slim, regular or relaxed.

In CloudCart the chart is shown by the Size Chart app (Apps → Size Chart). The chart itself is an ordinary page built in Content → Pages. Under Conditions → Create new you link it to one or more categories and, optionally, to brands (Manufacturers), and in the field Title (Will be Visible in the Store) you write the link text, for example "Size guide". Check one product from each category.

Important: the chart belongs to the whole product, not to a variant. If you sell shoes in EU and UK sizes, put both systems on the same page. On a phone, 4 to 5 columns are the maximum. If you run a separate store per language, give each one its own chart page in that language.

What photos clothing needs

Every clothing model needs 5 to 7 photos taken the same way: a main shot on a light background, front and back, a fabric close-up, the composition label, the garment on a person and one main photo per colour.

Photo	What it shows	Tip
Main	The whole garment from the front, on a white or light grey background	The same distance and centre for every model
Detail	Fabric, knit, seams, buttons	Close up, in daylight, without filters
On a person	How the garment falls and how long it is	With a caption: the model's height and size
Per colour	Each colour on its own	Linked to the variants with Modify images

Colour misleads most often, so shoot in the same daylight. If you edit photos with AI, check at 100% zoom that the tool has not changed the shade, the print or the stitching. More in AI product photos and background removal.

The description goes with the photos: material, care, cut and the occasion the garment is for. Aura Studio writes descriptions and SEO titles from the data already in your store and translates the texts. Check composition and measurements against the label.

Fibre composition labels: what EU law requires

The fibre composition of a textile product must be visible in the online store before the purchase. This comes from Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names, which applies in every member state since 8 May 2012: the information must be clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, including when the purchase is made by electronic means.

For every product this means:

• The composition is in the product page text, with the percentages from the label: "95% cotton, 5% elastane". A photo of the label alone is not enough.
• The fibre names are in the shopper's language. Under Article 16(3), labelling is in the official language or languages of the member state where the product is made available to the consumer, unless that country provides otherwise.
• The store and the label match. If they differ, the label is right.

It also helps to make composition a filterable property (Products → Properties), so shoppers can find "linen shirts" or "100% wool". Clothing also falls under the EU general product safety rules, explained in GPSR: product safety for online sellers.

Returns and size exchanges in an online clothing store

A shopper in any EU country can withdraw from an online clothing purchase within 14 days of receiving it, without giving a reason. This comes from Article 9 of the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU, which each member state has written into its national law.

Situation	The rule	Directive 2011/83/EU
The shopper withdraws	14 days from receipt, no reason needed	Art. 9
The shopper sends the item back	Within 14 days of telling you about the withdrawal	Art. 14(1)
You refund the money	Within 14 days, with the same means of payment, including the standard delivery cost	Art. 13(1)
Return shipping	The shopper pays the direct cost if you said so beforehand and did not offer to cover it	Art. 14(1)
The garment was worn	The shopper is liable for diminished value from handling beyond what is needed to check the goods	Art. 14(2)
Exception: hygiene	Sealed goods unsuitable for return for health or hygiene reasons, once unsealed after delivery	Art. 16(e)
Exception: made to order	Goods made to the shopper's specifications or clearly personalised	Art. 16(c)

The hygiene exception is narrow and does not cover ordinary clothes the shopper tries on. For your own brand, a garment sewn to the shopper's measurements or with a print they chose is made to order, and the 14 days do not apply.

Since 19 June 2026, Directive (EU) 2023/2673 also requires a withdrawal function labelled "withdraw from contract here" or an unambiguous equivalent, prominently displayed and available throughout the withdrawal period. In CloudCart this is the Withdraw from contract app. Deadlines, the withdrawal form and complaints are covered in returns and consumer rights for online stores,.

How to handle a return or exchange in the admin

1. Open the order. In Orders, open the order and click Issue return.
2. Choose what comes back. The whole order or only some lines: the shopper keeps the shirt and returns the trousers.
3. Receive the parcel. When you mark the return as received, the pieces go back into the stock of the exact size and colour, and the credit note is issued.
4. Refund the money. By card, by bank transfer or to CloudCart Wallet, or record the return as an exchange.

A size exchange is the cheapest return, because the money stays in the store, so offer it first. If shoppers return a dress as "too small", fix the chart.

Delivery and payment for a clothing store

A clothing store needs delivery to the door and to a pickup point, and the payment methods shoppers already know.

In CloudCart, DHL and GLS are integrated, and Sendcloud and EuShipment give you several European couriers through one contract, with the price shown at checkout. See the shipping and couriers page.

For payments, CloudCart Pay takes cards and wallets, Stripe and PayPal are the providers many shoppers across Europe already use, and Mollie adds local methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact and SEPA for Western Europe. Selling into Bulgaria too? Econt, Speedy and BOX NOW (Bulgarian couriers and parcel lockers) are built in.

Selling clothes to other EU countries: VAT, language and sizes

• VAT. Once your cross-border sales to consumers in other EU countries exceed €10,000 a year in total (without VAT), you charge the VAT of the customer's country, usually declared through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) that started on 1 July 2021. The details are in OSS and EU VAT for cross-border sales.
• A store per country. With the Multilang app, each language gets its own store linked to your main one: products are copied, texts can be translated with AI and prices adjusted with a multiplier. See multilingual and multi-currency stores and the multistore page.

Selling second-hand clothes online: what is different

A second-hand or vintage clothing store differs because every item is unique: a product with quantity 1, its own photos and its own measurements. When the item sells, it disappears from the store and does not come back into stock.

• Measurements instead of a size. The "M" on an old label is unreliable. Measure the width under the arms, the length and the sleeve in centimetres and put them in the description.
• A condition grade. One scale for the whole store, for example "new with tags", "like new", "good", "with flaws", as a filterable property.
• A photo of every flaw. A stain, a stretched knit, a missing button.

The legal guarantee also covers used clothes. According to Your Europe, second-hand goods bought from a professional seller also have the minimum 2-year guarantee. In some EU countries, the seller and the buyer may agree a shorter period, but it cannot be under 1 year and must be made clear at the time of purchase.

There is also a VAT point. The EU VAT Directive (Articles 311 to 325 and 342 to 343) has a margin scheme for second-hand goods: as the European Commission explains, businesses that opt for it pay VAT on their profit margin and do not charge or deduct VAT on those items. Ask your accountant whether it suits you.

Selling in Bulgaria or Romania too? There the OLX app deactivates a listing when the item's stock reaches 0, if stock sync is on. How OLX, eMAG and Pazaruvaj run from one catalogue is explained in selling on OLX, eMAG and Pazaruvaj.

Marketing for an online clothing store

Marketing for an online clothing store works best in three channels: Instagram and Facebook for new models, Google Shopping for searches for a specific garment, and email for repeat purchases.

• Instagram and Facebook. Dynamic ads show each person the garment they viewed, using your catalogue and the pixel.
• Google Shopping. Under the Google Merchant Center rules, the size attribute is required for clothing and shoes in unpaid product listings, and for Shopping ads in countries such as France and Germany. Each size is a separate product with a shared item group ID.
• Email. A customer who bought size 40 hears about the new collection in size 40.
• Fashion comparison sites. Glami, a fashion search site in Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, takes a feed with mapped categories and a size system. How to set it up is in the Glami product feed.

You sell on a fixed monthly plan with 0% commission on sales, so every new collection and every new channel grows your revenue without the platform taking a percentage of it. The whole catalogue setup, from variants to CSV import, is on the product catalogue page.

Frequently asked questions

Have a question about your catalogue, size charts or couriers? Write to us at support@cloudcart.com.