Why You Should Avoid Over-Customizing Your Shopify Theme
- thomas8672
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
We just wrapped up a Shopify rebuild for a client who had been stuck with a heavily customized, outdated theme—and it was a cautionary tale we see all too often.
Their original store was built on a non-standard template that had been imported and modified well beyond what Shopify supports natively. The developer who created it had long since disappeared, and there wasn’t a single comment in the code to help us make sense of how it was constructed.
Making changes? Nearly impossible. Adding new features? Forget it.
Custom Themes Can Be a Trap
At first, custom-coded themes seem like a great idea. They let you tailor everything to your brand. But if they’re built without Shopify’s structure in mind—or without documentation—they become a liability fast.
Here’s what we ran into:
The theme couldn’t be updated. It wasn’t compatible with Shopify 2.0 or any of the platform’s recent upgrades.
Even basic edits were risky, because the code was brittle and undocumented.
The design had aged poorly, and we couldn’t improve it without breaking something else.
The Fix: Rebuilding with a Modern Shopify Theme
Instead of trying to patch what was there, we rebuilt the site from the ground up using a standard, supported Shopify theme. That gave the client:
Full access to Shopify’s native editor, app blocks, and 2.0 functionality
A fresh, responsive design that actually works across devices
The ability to update and evolve the store without needing a developer every time
Most importantly, it gave them control again.
If You’re Dealing with an Old Theme, Here’s What to Know
If your store hasn’t been updated in a while—or if you’re not even sure what theme it’s running on—it’s worth a serious look. Unsupported themes can:
Kill performance and SEO
Block new features
Make even simple tasks needlessly complex
And if your old developer isn’t around anymore? You're flying blind.
Our Take
Unless there's a good reason, we steer clients away from deep customization and toward smart, scalable builds using Shopify’s own tools. It saves time, money, and future headaches.
And for those who do want to customize their site layout or content without touching backend code? We often recommend the Section Store App—a great free tool with a plug-and-play library of customizable sections and an Instant Section and Page Builder. It’s one of the easiest ways to extend your theme the right way.
Need help figuring out if your site’s ready for an upgrade? Let’s take a look.
Thomas Wright, Shopify Specialist
Ludwig Marketing and Sales