1. Download Dyecard
Dyecard is free. Open the Dyecard theme page, choose Download free and sign in with Google. The ZIP downloads straight away and is saved in your account, where every new version appears too. There is no licence key to paste and nothing to activate.
2. Install it on Shopify
- In your Shopify admin go to Online Store → Themes.
- Choose Add theme → Upload zip file and pick the Dyecard ZIP. Don't unzip it first.
- When the upload finishes, Dyecard appears in your theme library. Choose Customize to set it up, and Publish when you're happy.
More detail, with screenshots of each step: Install a theme on Shopify.
3. Colour swatches: what makes Dyecard work
Dyecard draws everything colour-related from Shopify's own colour swatches: the flush strip of chips under every product card, the shade band under the header, the By shade and Spectrum collection views, the Compare shades sheet and the palette strip in the cart. It uses no custom metafields.
- On each product, the colour option needs to be connected to the Color category metafield, with a swatch for every value. Shopify offers this when you add or edit a Color option in the product editor (the product needs a category such as Sweaters or T-shirts); pick existing colours or create new ones.
- Each colour entry has a name and a hex colour. Use names your shoppers know (Rust, Sea Glass, Oat); they are shown on chips and in the shade picker.
- A product without swatches still works: its card simply has no shade strip.
- If your colour option has another name, such as Shade or Colorway, add it in Theme settings → Shade system → Color option names.
4. The shade band and Spectrum
- Theme settings → Shade system → Shade band collection chooses whose colours make the band under the header. A collection that holds every product is a good choice; leave it empty to use your newest products. You can switch the band off there too.
- Neutral colors decides where greys, blacks and whites sit in the band and in Spectrum.
- Tint the product page to the selected shade gives the product page a faint wash of the chosen colour.
- On collection pages, the Product grid section has a Default view (By style, By shade or Spectrum) and Show view switch. The Spectrum section on the home page sorts a whole collection by colour.
5. Size guide
Create a page with your size tables in Online Store → Pages (pick the template page.size-guide if you want Dyecard's size table layout). Then, in the theme editor, open a product page, select the Variant picker block, tick Show size guide link and choose the page under Size guide page. The link appears next to the size option.
6. Filters
Dyecard's filter drawer (or sidebar) shows the filters you set up in Shopify's free Search & Discovery app. Install it, open Filters and add Color (shown as swatches), Size, Availability, Price and Product type. Turn filtering on or off in the Product grid section, where you can also choose a drawer or sidebar layout. Shade links on product pages go to a collection with a colour filter if you set Shade links go to in Theme settings → Shade system.
7. Presets and languages
- Dyecard is the light preset (paper, ink, square corners). Logwood is the dark preset with a display serif. Pick one when you add the theme, or later in the theme editor under Theme settings (theme style). Then adjust colours and fonts as you like.
- The storefront and theme editor come in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Turn on the languages you sell in under Settings → Languages.
- Both live demos are linked from the Dyecard page: storefront password mystore123.
8. Turn off the footer credit (optional)
Dyecard shows a small Theme by Orbital Studio link at the bottom of the footer. It's on by default. To remove it: Customize → Footer → untick Show theme credit → Save. That's all; you are welcome to switch it off.
Updates and questions
When a new version comes out it appears in your account. To move your settings over, follow Update a Shopify theme. Free themes don't come with a support period, but you can email support@theorbital.shop and we answer as time allows. The free theme terms are in the licence, section 8.