15 elegant clothing & accessories websites

The popularity of shopping for items online is greatly increasing. If you ask me why I like to shop online, it’s because I have pretty solid control over my purchase. I get to have time to open up another tab and read up on reviews from other folks. I don’t have to be forced by sales people to just try it on and see how I like it. And 9 times out of ten, I’m shopping online because I know exactly what I want it. It’s kind of an “in and out” experience.

Whether I’m looking to buy a laptop or a cool shirt, it’s no different. Buying clothes online allows you to see different iterations of certain trends and is often easier to jump from store to store. Not to mention, it’s easier to shop at a place in California from the comfort of my Virginian abode.

For many of these reasons alone, clothing e-commerce shops have to do a great job of making up for their sales people, their deals and the visual representation of their brand. Without these things, there’s really no difference between your shirt and another person’s shirt. Today, we’re going to take a look at some clothing and accessories websites that do a good job of getting people interested and buying.

Dripping in Fat

Well, we start off with a very unorthodox and creative t-shirt shop. Dripping in Fat’s storefront is made primarily using Flash, which some may be against. But, Flash isn’t ALL dead yet as we can see. You immediately get an idea of how quirky and creative these people are and you have the opportunity to scroll through much of the merchandise in a user friendly way.

Dior

It’s hard to mention fashion without a word about one of the pioneers of Haute Couture, Christian Dior. A very high-end brand, their site feels expensive. Classy typography and artful photography are everywhere, and check out the cool mouse-video effect on their landing page.

Rocaille

At first glance this looks like your typical ecommerce shop. Most like to have a few images above the fold to show interest in different collections or clothes. This time, however, we get a parallax scrolling technique that shows us many different pieces. In addition, once you go to an item, you don’t get your typical inside page. You get a very creative interpretation that focuses on images and description.

Diesel – Spring Summer campaign 2013

Diesel is one of the more creative and daring clothing lines in terms of web and graphic design. This website is essentially a hub for some of their newer ideas for different lines (as they make watches, mens and women clothing and more). The flat color and pictures create a very interesting choice for fashion, but it works and is aesthetically pleasing.

Feyt

Here we have a website that is said to create a personalized shopping experience for an individual. Basically, users are given the option to scroll through bunches of clothes and accessories from different boutiques and can purchase and rate these items which allows Feyt to make recommendations. What I like about Feyt is its clean lines which tends to be an overarching theme in fashion. Less design helps to show off the most important part, which is the clothing.

Miu Miu

Of major importance, when selling anything, you have to show your brand. In clothing, it is especially necessary because so many different people could be filtering into your shop, so you want them to know right away if this is a brand they can connect with or not. While the Miu Miu site isn’t anything to write home about, the brands style guide has been ruthlessly adhered to, with imagery all easily associable with other company output like advertising and point of sale branding.

Percival

When you enter this site, you immediately have the option of checking out their blog or going to their store. If you bypass the journal and head straight to the shop, you’ll be pleased to see a storefront that seems pretty typically but has some great enhancements. The navigation of the clothing is great because it adds icons and makes sure there’s no confusion. You’ve got large pictures with models that tend to wear entire outfits, which is helpful for up-selling. This is a well thought out e-shop.

B56 Store

Much like the Neuarmy shop, B56 uses a pretty standard layout, but puts lots of emphasis on their imagery. But before we talk about that, there are some small enhancements to the standard layout such as a drop down menu for the categories and designers. This is great because this de-clutters what could be a very cluttered website. Meanwhile, B56 uses very bold imagery and instead of white backgrounds, they use different colored backgrounds. These small things could make all the difference.

Patrik Ervell

We could talk about the clean layout here. We could even talk about how the designer was smart enough to put more informative links on the side. The truth is, none of that really matters next to the use of moving images. It’s a cool little effect that definitely draws in the attention, but it also shows crazy attention to detail. For viewers, it also feels like the end of the runway, where models get to turn about and show off more of their outfit. It’s a brilliant idea.

Noon Style

The designers over at Noon style seem to be very cognizant of the materials and techniques they use when creating their accessories. They love all things natural and it shows in their site design. I’ve never seen a design that utilizes full screen images and a left-layout such as this. It doesn’t use a bunch of space yet makes sure everything is visible and clear.

Goodship

Goodship focuses on creating tote bags for all and for every season. Every once in a while they tend to dabble in more fashionable accessories such as ties and scarves. Goodship obviously has an old school vibe in the stylistics of their designs. It’s great because they do a great job of creating that consistent style online.

Etiquette Clothiers

When you think of under garments, you may think of brands like Hanes or Fruit of the Loom. Etiquette Clothiers should be added right into that conversation as they are all about socks, underwear and undershirts. This website gives off a very fashionable feel as many of the undergarmets are fashion forward and draw some attention.

Mrs Bowtie

I’d say bowties are one of those eccentric fashion accessories that’s making a pretty solid comeback. You can put a variety of things on a bowtie to make it go with a casual outfit or a very fancy one. Mrs Bowtie handmakes all their bowties which gives a very quality and caring feel. The web design here is very detailed with various textures and interactions that make all the difference.

Mujjo

Technology is one of those things that doesn’t seem fashionable, but can me made into something very fashionable. Think about iPods and iPhones or Beats by Dre Headphones; they’re as much a fashion accessory as a bowtie or bag. Mujjo is trying again to pair these two worlds by creating gloves that can interact with touchscreens and other cases and sleeves for different devices.

Ditto

With Ditto, we can talk about the wonderful layout and design they have going on, but I’m going to rely on your eyes for that one. What’s much more important is how Ditto works. I used to work in the eyecare industry, and of major importance in purchasing eyewear is trying frames on. Ditto makes life so easy with the ability to actually ‘try’ on glasses and see them on your face. Even if you don’t wear glasses, you’ve got try this innovative technology out.

Shopping online is real. Many experts predict that by the year 2015, we could be spending anywhere from 270 to 300 billion of our dollars online. That’s a great amount of money that can be dispersed amongst many different places online. It’s absolutely imperative that online shops understand how to create web sites that increase sales and promote their brand. Taking care of these two responsibilities assuredly means a portion of that share could belong to them.

What’s your favorite online shop? Have you created an online store recently? Share it in the comments below.

Kendra Gaines

Kendra Gaines is a freelance designer from Virginia, USA. Connect with her.