How to Start a Profitable Dropshipping Clothing Business?

Clothing is one of the most competitive yet profitable dropshipping niches. With fashion trends changing fast and consumer demand constantly rising, many beginners choose clothing when starting their first dropshipping store. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through 6 practical steps on how to start a profitable dropshipping clothing business, explore what profit margins look like in fashion dropshipping, and share unique insights from Harry Chu, Founder of TrueProfit, on what it really takes to succeed.

How to Start a Profitable Dropshipping Clothing Business: 6 Steps

Here're 6 steps to start a profitable clothing dropshipping brand.

Step 1. Select a Profitable Niche

A profitable niche is a market segment where products can sell at a profitable margin. Good profit margin for apparel typically falls between 5% and 10%. Anything below this margin range is too weak to build a profitable clothing dropshipping after covering the cost of goods sold (COGS), shipping, and marketing. 

Such profit margins are rare in mass-market niche like T-shirts but are often seen in targeted sub-categories like “stylish plus-size dresses”, “ recycled fabric hoodies”, or “yoga pants”. These sub-niches let sellers target specific audiences, which lead to larger margins but lower competition—sellers don’t directly compete with fast-fashion giants like Zara or H&M.

Here are free tools/platforms commonly used to find a clothing dropshipping niche:

Meta’s Audience Insights. It’s a free tool for tracking demographic and interest data about Facebook and Instagram users. Enter keywords like “activewear,” “sustainable clothing,” or “maternity fashion” to see the size of the audience, their age ranges, gender breakdown, and what pages they follow.

Google Trends. Google Trends helps track the frequency of search on a specific keyword. Type in product keywords like “plus-size activewear” or “eco-friendly hoodies” and analyze whether interest is growing or declining. If searches are consistently rising, that niche has long-term potential.

Google Keyword Planner. Google Keyword Planner is a keyword research tool that shows search volume and competition levels. Search clothing-related terms like “maternity leggings” or “streetwear dropshipping” to see monthly search volumes.

Online Marketplaces. Browse best selling product categories on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and even TikTok Shop. Look for products with high ratings but not yet heavily saturated in ads or online stores.

Step 2. Pick the Potential Winning Products

Not all products promise you a big profit, even best-selling products or top trending items recommended every year. Harry Chu, Founder of TrueProfit once shared his own definition: 

Those products usually check off three signs:  

Here’s how Harry Chu make potential product to a real winner: 

Pick 1-3 potential products. You better start with a product that meets three above checks: clear demand, low competition, and healthy profit margin. 

Set a healthy selling price. Harry Chu often aims for at least a 5–10% markup on each product. It’s a healthy price not only covers costs but also allows room for ad spend, shipping fluctuations, and promotions without eating into profits. Follow our practical tip on designing an e-commerce pricing strategy. 

Track net profit margin over time. Net profit margin is the ultimate measure of a product's profitability. Understanding this metric helps you spot the high profit margin product and the profit leak based on its real impact on the bottom line, not guessing. 

Step 3. Choose a Reliable Supplier

Choosing the right clothing dropshipping supplier can make or break the store success, since suppliers have big control on shipping delivery time, order quality, and return policy a seller can support their customer.  

Here are four proven ways to track down reliable suppliers:

Use Shopify supplier directories. Directories like Zopi, Spocket, or DSers make it easy to connect with vetted clothing suppliers. These platforms are curated to integrate directly with Shopify, saving you time and ensuring smoother operations.

Try Google Lens. By uploading a screenshot of a trending clothing item, sellers can quickly identify websites that list it. Look out for domains tagged with “wholesale,” “distributor,” or “supplier” to spot potential partners.

Browse marketplaces. Global platforms such as Alibaba, AliExpress, DHgate, or Global Sources are full of clothing suppliers. You can filter by product category, region, and supplier rating to find those who meet your standards.

Join dropshipping communities. Start with the r/dropship subreddit, which is already filled with merchants sharing experiences and supplier recommendations. 

Step 4. Choose a Selling Platform

The selling platform you choose will directly affect how easy it is to launch, run, and scale your clothing dropshipping business. Here are some of the best platforms to consider:

Among these options, we pick Shopify as the best for new dropshippers thanks to its quick store setup, and a wide range of automation apps that help scale dropshipping stores more efficiently.  

You can find a full list of best dropshipping apps—both free and paid—organized by business stage in our article.

Step 5. Set Up Your Online Store

Let’s say the selling platform is Shopify, here's how to set it up:

Step 6. Connect a Dropshipping App

A dropshipping app is the tool that links your Shopify store to suppliers — letting you import products, sync inventory, fulfill orders, and automate the back-end of your business. 

Our 5 recommended apps are: 

Is Clothing Still a Profitable Niche for Dropshipping?

Clothing is still a profitable niche for dropshipping in 2025. 

According to Shopify, fashion & apparel sits at the top of online shopping categories, with consumers expected to spend ~$760B on fashion online in 2025. 

Yet, competition also remains high as Shopify now has over 520,000 clothing stores. Margins are slim unless sellers focus on high-value niches, differentiate stores by branding strategies, and carefully control costs

What is a Good Profit Margin for a Clothing Dropshipping Store?

A healthy gross profit margin for a clothing store usually falls between 50–60%, but the metric that really matters is net profit margin, which often ranges around 5–10%. For example:

Treating those profit margin benchmarks as flexible is key. Instead of locking into one “ideal” number, sellers should see it as a moving target and regularly review it against these shifting factors to make smarter pricing and scaling decisions.

Final Thoughts

Clothing dropshipping can be profitable, but it requires more than just launching a Shopify store and adding products. You need to choose the right niche, manage your costs, and constantly track your margins to stay ahead.

That’s where TrueProfit comes in. As the Shopify profit analytics app, it helps dropshippers track real-time net profit by factoring in COGS, shipping, discounts, transaction fees, and ad spend. Instead of guessing, you’ll know exactly how much profit each clothing item brings in—and scale with confidence.

Lila Le

Lila Le is the Marketing Manager at TrueProfit, with a deep understanding of the Shopify ecosystem and a proven track record in dropshipping. She combines hands-on selling experience with marketing expertise to help Shopify merchants scale smarter—through clear positioning, profit-first strategies, and high-converting campaigns.

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