Fashion and accessories catalogs: sizes, colors and variants in order

What changes in a fashion catalog

A T-shirt is not one product: it is fifteen. Three colors times five sizes, each combination with its own SKU, stock and, sometimes, photo. That multiplication is what makes a fashion catalog hard to keep in a spreadsheet, where every row repeats the same description and brand.

The answer is to separate what is shared from what varies. Brand, description, composition and care live on the parent product; size and color are the variant axes.

The attributes channels ask for

Besides size and color, buyers and channels expect:

• Composition and material: cotton, polyester, leather, in percentages when it applies.
• Gender and age group: to filter and so the channel can place the item.
• Fit, length or cut, depending on the item.
• Care instructions: washing, drying and ironing.
• Size guide: the actual measurements of each size.

Google Merchant Center, for example, asks for color, gender and age group for apparel in several countries, size for clothing and shoes, and an identifier that groups the variants of the same product.

Sizes and colors you can filter

If one supplier writes “M”, another “Medium” and another “Med”, the store shows three different sizes. The same goes for colors: “Navy blue”, “Navy” and “Marine”. Storing size and color as attributes with a list of allowed values is what makes filters work and helps buyers find their size.

Photos, per color

In fashion, the photo sells. Each color needs its own images, and ideally the item should be shown being worn. Producing model photos for the whole catalog is expensive, which is why many brands only have flat product shots for part of their items.

How Bruxel handles it

In Bruxel each item has its parent product and its variants by size and color, with typed attributes and completeness measured product by product. Descriptions are written in your brand voice and translated if you sell in another language. For photos, the Studio creates fictional models that are reused across the catalog and always starts from the product's real photos; the main image is still a real photo.

See how variants are built in the variants guide and how photos are generated in the Studio guide.

Where to start

Start with your ten best sellers. Check that each one has its parent product, that every color and size is a variant with its own SKU and that sizes and colors use a single list of values. Then complete composition, care and the size guide, and measure what each item is missing for the channel where you sell the most. With that base, adding the rest of the catalog means repeating the same pattern.