The Nashie × STOQ: how preorders kept a world-first swim shirt selling

Nashie used STOQ to keep selling in the US while inventory was on its way from Australia. In June, 100% of its US orders were placed as preorders and the data helped the brand understand what American customers actually wanted.

From “not a rashy” to Nashie

Tom Wilson started Nashie to create a swim shirt that didn't feel like a traditional rash guard.

He wanted something people could wear at the beach, around the pool, or on holiday without looking like they were wearing sportswear. Tom describes the product as a "world first," while the name itself captures the idea: Nashie means "not a rashy."

But creating a new kind of product meant there was no existing demand curve to work from.

As Nashie expanded beyond Australia, Tom had to learn which sizes, colors, and styles would actually sell in each market.

Keeping US sales moving while stock was in transit

Nashie had already used preorders in Australia. When it began moving inventory to the US, there was no US stock available.

The team decided it couldn't keep selling to the US from Australia while the stock was in transit, given the uncertainty around low-value shipments into the country.

But summer was approaching, and Nashie didn't want to wait until the inventory arrived to start taking orders.

"We have to take pre-orders because if we don't you just miss out on all of the... we're a summer product, summer's burning through." - Tom Wilson

So Nashie put the US store on preorder.

At that point, there was effectively no US inventory:

"It was like zero of all items... none because none have arrived in America yet." - Tom Wilson

For the entire month of June, every US order was a preorder.

"For a whole month, for the whole of June, it was 100% pre-orders." - Tom Wilson

Once the US inventory arrived, Nashie returned to normal selling, with individual products occasionally remaining on preorder when they ran out.

Tom is also clear about what STOQ did—and didn't—do:

"STOQ's not the cause of your sales. It's just the way to enable them." - Tom Wilson

For Nashie, that meant capturing orders that otherwise would have been missed while inventory was moving between markets.

Preorders became a source of US demand data

The preorders also gave Nashie an early view of what customers in the US actually wanted.

The brand could see which styles, colors, and sizes were attracting orders. Tom quickly noticed that US demand looked different from Australia.

"By preordering, you get ahead on getting data for what works and what doesn't in that country." - Tom Wilson

One style that was around the third- or fourth-best seller in Australia turned out to be one of Nashie's strongest sellers in America.

"It's actually probably the best seller in America." - Tom Wilson

That information could feed into the next inventory order. Tom estimated that without the preorder data, Nashie would have been about a month behind in recognizing the shift in US demand.

Nashie also uses preorders to test new styles. When the team isn't sure which new product will perform best, it can open preorders, see which styles attract orders, and use that signal to decide what to move into production faster.

"The data collection... is actually really important." - Tom Wilson

Why STOQ worked for Nashie's setup

Nashie had moved from WooCommerce to Shopify, where Tom didn't have the same level of control over preorders out of the box.

He wanted to control how many units could be sold on preorder and manage inventory differently across markets. After trying several apps, Nashie's developer recommended STOQ.

A major requirement was multi-market inventory support.

"It'll tick the box of multi-market stock management." - Tom Wilson

As Nashie expanded, that became increasingly important. Tom described multi-market support as:

"The most vital feature that you don't know you need until the day you need it." - Tom Wilson

Tom also valued how quickly STOQ responded when Nashie needed something handled differently.

"You guys are really responsive and you just built those features in and worked on it straight away." - Tom Wilson

Shopify had also made it difficult to release large numbers of on-hold fulfillments at once. During the conversation, STOQ showed Tom that the app now supported bulk actions to release or reschedule those fulfillments.

Tom's advice: think beyond today's problem

Nashie's experience with preorder apps shaped how Tom thinks about choosing them.

"Every app that you get on Shopify you have to start with the end in mind." - Tom Wilson

For Nashie, that meant choosing a preorder system that could handle multiple markets as the brand expanded.

Tom's recommendation after using STOQ is straightforward:

"I do think STOQ is the best on the market." - Tom Wilson

What Nashie's experience shows

For Nashie, preorders became more than a way to sell products before inventory arrived.

They gave the brand a way to keep US sales moving while inventory was in transit, learn how American demand differed from Australia, and use that information to make better inventory decisions.

STOQ gave Nashie the infrastructure to make that approach work across markets as the business grew.