# Big Cartel Themes



## DNR Clothing

hey guys, wanted to know if you know of free websites that have themes for big cartel?

thanks


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## the_um

when you do get that free custom bigcartel theme, you have to pay $10 a month for 'full customization' /w bigcartel. just keep that in mind.


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## DNR Clothing

yh i no that lol , so any themes?


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## FreeMarketeer

I feel like I've looked everywhere for free BigCartel themes and only found one. Not one site...one theme. I wasn't that impressed with it.

You've probably seen what I've seen. The ones that really appeal to me cost $80 - $150. I'll keep looking though and post back here if I happen to come across any.

-Corey


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## DNR Clothing

yh ive seen the same, its really a shame, 

thanks mate,thanks alot.


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## intuos13

too many free cheesy layouts out there. I could not bare know my work is posted on a genericly duplicated website. - if you can spend a few more buck just hire someone on craigslist to design your web layout. work somthing out.


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## FreeMarketeer

Where are these free ones, Omar? 

That's what we were discussing. There are not any free ones for BigCartel. There are 2 basic ones that you have to choose from. Beyond that, we'd have to pay a guy off craigslist for one of his layouts/themes. 

Please, give me a link to the "free cheesy layouts".


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## Recover Clothing

I can't find any


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## DNR Clothing

i think we are all S%^$ outta luck really lol


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## tager01

Never lose hope. I have been looking for the same thing for a while and I only found two of them.There is two really nice (http://t-shirtmagazineonline.com/page/7/) and (http://tonkapark.com/is-sexy-free-big-cartel-css/). Enjoy


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## DNR Clothing

thanks buddy


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## tager01

No problem,You will have to mess with the html and CSS a little bit if you want to change the colors and borders, Good luck


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## sane624

I am also researching BC themes, though I was unable to find any free ones.

There are two "premium" theme sites. One (tonkapark.com) was mentioned. There is also themefiend.com. Both sites have prices north of $80, which I think includes some type of support. tonkapark has a theme for $25 without support.


Good luck in your search.


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## DNR Clothing

for us , big cartel isnt working for sales anywayz ,thanks guys!


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## FreeMarketeer

What do you mean? The coding isn't allowing transactions to be completed? Or you're just not getting any traffic?

How long have you had a store up on Big Cartel? Just curious.


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## DNR Clothing

yh just not getting alot of traffic really. ive had it up 4 about a month now,

hadnt got one sale from there yet.


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## tonkapark

So what types of big cartel themes are you guys looking for? Do you like the themes you see for sale but are just unwilling to pay for the work or you just want something very different if you are going to have to pay or do you just really like free stuff?

Give me some ideas on the designs you are looking for that you cannot find for big cartel. Maybe I can release a theme for less than $25 or even free. But we'll see.


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## FreeMarketeer

tonkapark, I like the themes you've created. Speaking only for myself, I am not opposed to paying for a theme. I don't think creators should work for free, though it would be great of course to have dozens of free themes to choose from.

I have a bit of an issue with the price point of themes currently available. There is one theme that I like quite a bit offered by someone else, but it is being sold for well over $100. To me, this seems high considering it will not be unique to my site. I think $25-$50 is a more reasonable price range for something made available to everyone. Ultimately, I would rather pay $600-$800 to have my theme designed uniquely for me than pay $130 for something that could end up on every other Big Cartel store...but as a start-up, I can't afford to go that route immediately.

My favorite feature is the ability to have large, cycling images on the front page like a slide show. I would use this to profile people wearing my shirts at events specific to my brand.

Thanks for inquiring! Would love it if you decided to create a theme with the front page slide show feature at a price that stands apart from the others. As fast as Big Cartel is growing, I think many in my shoes would jump on great themes at a "starving artists" price point. Don't want you to starve either, though.


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## LegitFitClothing

I have to agree with FreeMarketeer.

A slideshow front page is a great feature, something I have no clue how to create on my own.


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## tonkapark

FreeMarketeer said:


> My favorite feature is the ability to have large, cycling images on the front page like a slide show. I would use this to profile people wearing my shirts at events specific to my brand.


When you are working with platforms like Big Cartel, Storenvy or similar hosted carts themes are limited in functionality because you cannot upload additional files such as the sales images or other marketing slideshow images. So providing bundled themes with these extra features is tricky. Hard to explain this to all different levels of users how to make sure they have an image host of some sort for the extra images in the slider without going through a few email exchanges sometimes. That is why some of the themes have higher prices. To cover the time in supporting these features or exchanging emails with customers.

But that said it is nice to hear the interest in the themes and what people are really interested in the most. I am working on trying to release more themes to expand my offerings so we'll see if I can help meet these needs you and others are expressing. I would like to be the go to place for shop owners.


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## tager01

tonkapark, I really like your themes, unfortunately I was looking for a them with slides show too. I had to go to themfiend for that!!

By the way if you don`t mind me asking you a question about my theme. I am trying to make the product pictures bigger like Regan Smith Clarke: Official Shop , and I try to mess with the html and css code of my store but I can`t figure it out. I had the same issue when I installed your theme first. Any idea how to do that?

Thank you!!!


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## tonkapark

tager01 said:


> By the way if you don`t mind me asking you a question about my theme. I am trying to make the product pictures bigger like Regan Smith Clarke: Official Shop , and I try to mess with the html and css code of my store but I can`t figure it out. I had the same issue when I installed your theme first. Any idea how to do that?
> 
> Thank you!!!


You need to use the 'large' product image instead of the medium. In the HOME or PRODUCTS template just make that switch. Although making that change will then require CSS changes to get proper column widths.


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## FreeMarketeer

tonkapark said:


> Hard to explain this to all different levels of users how to make sure they have an image host of some sort for the extra images in the slider without going through a few email exchanges sometimes. That is why some of the themes have higher prices. To cover the time in supporting these features or exchanging emails with customers.


Since I haven't purchased a theme or even downloaded a free one, I am guessing a bit here...but is including detailed instructions and explanations for the theme not enough for users? I can certainly understand having to price the time spent on support into the purchase price. Do you offer tiered pricing? With support and without? Would it be too much of a pain, for instance, to sell me a theme for say $25 without support? Perhaps you could offer the option to purchase a support package separately later if someone needed it. 

Certainly not trying to tell you how to run your business...just a thought.


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## ReganSmithClarke

> tonkapark, I really like your themes, unfortunately I was looking for a them with slides show too. I had to go to themfiend for that!!
> 
> By the way if you don`t mind me asking you a question about my theme. I am trying to make the product pictures bigger like Regan Smith Clarke: Official Shop , and I try to mess with the html and css code of my store but I can`t figure it out. I had the same issue when I installed your theme first. Any idea how to do that?
> 
> Thank you!!!


I build out my Big Cartel myself, I believe your question was already answered, however if you or anyone else needs any advice let me know! You can also email me: info[USER=107068]@ReganSmithClarke[/USER].com


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## tager01

ReganSmithClarke said:


> I build out my Big Cartel myself, I believe your question was already answered, however if you or anyone else needs any advice let me know! You can also email me: info[USER=107068]@ReganSmithClarke[/USER].com


Thank you man, I really like your website and tee designs. I have currently an issue with my website. In my product page I have a "you may like" feature. My issue is that this feature show all my tees instead of only three at the time. I try to mess with the code without any success. do you have any idea how I could fix this?

Thank you very much!!!


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## ProperGnar

DNR Clothing said:


> yh just not getting alot of traffic really. ive had it up 4 about a month now,
> 
> hadnt got one sale from there yet.


thats probably due to marketing. i didn't get any sales online until i got our twitter following up to like 2,000 people and ran ads on several sites.


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## ShannenS

I know this is late but try Big Cartel Themes, Templates and Layouts | Theme Fiend Great Big Cartel templates for under $100


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## cwall

This is somewhat off topic, but I'm reminded of the old adage, "you get what you pay for". 
How many people with a retail site went with the absolute cheapest labor for designing their store, logo, etc? I suspect those people aren't business actually. I'm amazed at the belief so many people have that digital products should be free. I like free stuff, don't get me wrong. But I respect the work that goes into good design and support and have come to believe that what I get as a result is largely based on informed purchases from the people top in their fields. And those people need to be paid, just like we do.


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## jonkeefe

Clayton, too true.

So many people think that "Well, my nephew can write HTML and he says he'd make me a website for $10, so why is it so expensive to get people to do this kind of work?"

You honestly do get what you pay for. Shell out a couple of bucks for some stranger to make you a theme, and then down the road you realize that it looks like **** in Firefox, or the images aren't sized properly in Internet Explorer, or the slideshow doesn't work in Safari, etc etc... website designers are professionals; not just any professionals, but _tech_ professionals. Their services are expensive; that's just the way things are. 

You're paying for experience and a quality end-product. As I mentioned in another thread, nobody would expect one of us to design a one-of-a-kind 4-color shirt for pennies; it's silly to expect the equivalent from a professional in another field.


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## trexart

Funny, it seems there are a couple threads going around with this sort of issue. Jon, I noticed you posted in another one just like this and I almost responded as well, but last minute decided not to. I try to stay away from these threads.

For some reason people don't see web design as something that requires paying for...can anyone outside of the business explain to me why? Web design is not easy. Okay, I'll adjust that statement a bit, GOOD web design is not easy. There are many technologies to learn and many browser issues to deal with. Everything is changing constantly and it takes lots of time and dedication to keep up.

I understand that not everyone has money to spend when they are starting up, but what I want to know is down the road when your business is booming and you have money, are you then willing to spend decent money for webdesign, or do you still think that your nephew in his basement can do it, so you should get a fully customized ecommerce site for $200?

If the idea is that you're just starting out, that you need to compromise by either doing it yourself or getting something for free but that down the road when you have money you'll get professional work done, then I completely respect that. If you just believe, hey, I learned this in 2 weeks, it isn't that hard, professionals are just ripping me off, then I can't respect you at all. 

Web design is a skill just like manufacturing and screen printing and deserves to be paid for just like everything else. I doubt someone gives you a quote for shirts for $400 and you go, well, I can get it from another person for $25. 

How come we never see anything on here like "Hey, anyone know where I can get my t-shirts and screen printing for free?" I guess we do see threads about 'cheap', but not about free.

Compromises are often necessary when starting a brand new business, but what I often find is that people don't actually apply a value to web design, they believe it is something quick and easy.

Okay, rant over, this is why I don't read threads about cheap (or free) webdesign...


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