Starting a Footwear Brand Website on Shopify in India
A footwear brand has a problem most apparel stores do not. One style comes in many sizes and colours, and a wrong size is the most common reason a pair comes back. Shopify handles that well, but the first-week decisions on variants, size charts and exchanges are the ones that cost money later. This guide covers those decisions for an Indian footwear store, including GST by price per pair and the BIS quality control orders that may apply to your range.
Shopify limits are from the Shopify Help Centre, the GST rate schedule from CBIC Notification 9/2025 (Integrated Tax (Rate)), and the footwear quality control amendments from the Gazette of India, all checked on 15 October 2026. This is practical guidance, not tax or legal advice.
Is Shopify a good fit for a footwear brand in India?
For most new footwear brands, yes. Shopify handles product options, collections for men, women, kids and sale lines, and a checkout that works with Indian gateways such as Razorpay and Cashfree. Our clothing store setup guide covers the parts that apply to any apparel range, so this article focuses on what is specific to shoes.
Shoes add two things most apparel does not. The first is fit: a shoe that is one size off is a return, and the return costs you twice in shipping. The second is the standards question. Some footwear types fall under quality control orders, which can decide whether you can sell a product at all. Both are easier to plan before launch than to fix after your first hundred orders.
How should size and colour be set up as variants?
Use Shopify's product options for the choices a customer actually makes, and keep everything else out of them. The Shopify Help Centre states that each product can have up to three options and up to 2,048 variants, and up to 250 media items. A variant is one combination of option values, such as a size 8 black sneaker.
| Information | Where it should live | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Option 1 | Stock is tracked per size, and the customer must pick one |
| Colour | Option 2 | Each colourway shares one product page and carries its own stock |
| Width, such as regular or wide | Option 3, only if you stock it | It is a real choice, so it earns the third slot |
| Material, sole type and care | Description or metafields | These are information, not choices, and do not multiply stock |
Keep one product per style, not one per size. A 10 size and 6 colour range is 60 variants, which is well within the limit. Add a width option and the same range becomes 120 variants. Shopify notes that some third-party themes might not support more than 100 variants, so test your theme with the full range before you commit to a three-option structure.
Which size chart should you publish: Indian, UK or US?
Footwear sizes do not translate cleanly between systems. The same number can mean a different length in an Indian, UK, US or EU label, and two brands can use different labels for the same foot length because each builds shoes on its own last, the mould a shoe is made around. A size chart that only shows one system pushes customers to guess, and guessing is where returns start.
Publish the chart as a table on the product page, not as a PDF link. Give foot length in centimetres as the anchor measurement, then show the label for each system you sell in. Add a short measuring guide: stand on a sheet of paper, mark the heel and the longest toe, and measure between the marks. Say plainly whether a style runs narrow, runs wide or runs true to size. One sentence like that prevents more returns than most product photography.
Should customers get an exchange or a return?
For footwear, most customers who return a pair want a different size, not their money back. A size exchange saves you the refund and usually one shipment, so make it the first option in your policy. Shopify's returns tools support this. According to the Shopify Help Centre article on creating returns, you can add exchange items to a return and communicate the estimated balance due, and the exchange items' inventory is not reserved until you process the return. That last detail matters: a popular size can sell out between the customer asking for it and you processing the return.
Check two limits before you rely on the feature. The Help Centre says Shopify-created return labels are available only when both your primary location and the customer's shipping address are in the United States, so an Indian store needs its own return shipping arrangement with its courier. It also says Plus merchants can switch on exchanges through a feature test drive, and it does not list other plans, so check what your admin shows. Our returns and exchanges guide for Indian stores covers the policy wording and the operations side.
How do COD and RTO change for footwear?
Cash on delivery makes fit problems expensive. A customer who orders two sizes to try, or who changes their mind when the parcel arrives, refuses the delivery, and the pair travels back to you as an RTO. Shoes are a category where this happens often enough to plan around.
Four habits help. Confirm the size and address before dispatch, by phone or WhatsApp, for any COD order. Show the size chart and measuring guide before checkout, not after. Set COD limits for first-time buyers or high-value pairs, based on what your gateway allows. And record the reason for every RTO against the order, so you can see which styles or sizes drive refusals. Our guide to reducing COD and RTO losses covers the tools for each step. The exact COD terms depend on your payment provider, so confirm them before you switch the option on.
What GST rate applies to footwear by price?
Footwear is taxed by value per pair, and the price point decides the rate. Under the 56th GST Council decisions, footwear was reduced from 12% to 5% up to Rs 2,500 per pair, and pairs above Rs 2,500 stayed at 18%. The rate schedule in CBIC Notification 9/2025 (Integrated Tax (Rate)) took effect from 22 September 2025.
| Sale value per pair | GST rate on footwear |
|---|---|
| Not exceeding Rs 2,500 | 5% |
| Exceeding Rs 2,500 | 18% |
This creates a pricing edge that founders should see before they set a price list. A pair priced just above Rs 2,500 falls outside the 5% entry, so a small price change can change the tax rate on the whole product. Decide your price points with your CA, and confirm how the sale value on your invoices will be calculated, rather than assuming the MRP is the test. Check the rate on the day you set up the store, because the schedule is amended from time to time.
Do BIS quality control orders apply to your footwear?
Yes, for some product types. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade notified quality control orders for footwear, and the Bureau of Indian Standards circulated the product list on 19 March 2024 with an implementation date of 1 August 2024. The list is by product and standard, not by the word "footwear". It includes canvas shoes with rubber soles (IS 3735), sandals and slippers (IS 6721), hawai chappals (IS 10702), sports footwear in three parts of IS 15844, and shoes for general purpose and for services under IS 17043. It also covers safety and industrial boots.
Not every shoe is on that list, so match your product to the standard number before you assume it is covered or exempt. If it is covered, the product must carry the BIS mark. If you buy from a factory, ask for the BIS licence number for each covered product before you list it, and keep it on file. Ask your compliance adviser to confirm the scope for your specific range.
The sell-off window is the detail that changes your plans. Under the 2024 leather footwear order as amended in August 2024, footwear without the BIS mark that was manufactured or imported before the order took effect could be sold only until 31 July 2026. The Amendment Order notified on 12 June 2026 as S.O. 3038(E) moves that date to 31 July 2027. The rubber and polymeric footwear order received the same change under S.O. 3037(E). The June 2026 amendments also allow manufacturers to import up to 4,500 pairs a year for research and non-commercial use, provided the pairs are marked "NOT FOR SALE" and kept on record.
What product photos does a shoe store need?
Shoes sell on detail, so the photo set matters more than it does for most categories. Shopify's product media guidance in the Shopify Help Centre says a 2048 x 2048 px square image usually displays best, and that images can go up to 5000 x 5000 px or 25 megapixels. Its product photography guidance adds that a good image size is no larger than 200 KB, with lower numbers being better, and recommends a pure white background for the product. Keep the camera and tripod in the same position for every shot so the range looks like one catalogue.
Shoot more angles than you think you need: the top, both sides, the sole, the heel, the inside of the heel and the toe. The sole and heel shots do most of the work for a buyer deciding whether a shoe is well made. Add a short video for a sneaker or a strap-heavy sandal, since movement shows fit better than a still. Shopify allows up to 250 media items per product, so a full set fits comfortably. Plan the set once per style, and reuse the same order across every colourway.
Photo: Allan Henderson via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Planning a footwear store on Shopify?
Free footwear store plan review. Get in touch or email hello@exactwhy.com with the subject "Footwear Store Plan Review" and your store URL or Instagram handle. Tell us your size range, how many styles and colourways you plan to launch, and whether you will offer COD. We reply within 4 hours with a recommended variant structure, a size chart approach for your range, and the GST and BIS checks to close before launch.
If you go ahead. We set up your footwear store end to end: product and variant structure, the size chart and measuring guide, collections for categories and drops, GST and HSN settings to match your CA's advice, returns and exchanges configured for your plan, COD controls with your payment gateway, and the policy pages the e-commerce rules expect.