Set up Rep's metafields

Rep's features read three kinds of data, none of which needs an app:

• Metafields in the custom namespace (the one Shopify admin uses when you create a definition): nine on products and one on variants.
• Theme settings in Theme settings › Activity, Fabric and fit, Sets and Fit finder, and the blocks' own settings: your activity names, compression words, inseam labels, set discount and size chart.
• Product option names and values: your colour, size and inseam options, matched by name.

Rep doesn't use metaobjects, so there is nothing to set up under Content › Metaobjects. You only need the data for the features you use, and nothing breaks while you fill it in: each part of a feature shows only when it has data, and the theme settings give every product sensible defaults.

In Shopify admin, metafield definitions live under Settings › Custom data (called Metafields and metaobjects in newer versions of the admin).

The metafields Rep reads

Keys are exact and case-sensitive. The name is yours to choose: it's what you see when you edit a product.

A Specification row block can show any other product metafield you create (chapter 6).

How to fill them in

Activities (custom.activities): one activity per value, such as Train, Run, Yoga, Pilates, Lounge. Capitals don't matter for the icons, and you can write any activity you sell for. These names get a pictogram:

Any other name gets a small dot in place of a pictogram and still counts: it's read out with the rest ("For train, yoga and climbing"). Cards show the first three in the order you list them, so put the most important first. Spell each activity exactly as in your Activity list and tile names ("Yoga", not "yoga practice"): the tiles and pills link to the filter by that word. Make it a list: a single line "Train, Yoga" still draws two icons, but the Activity filter would offer "Train, Yoga" as one value.

Support level (custom.support_level): Low, Medium or High, on sports bras and anything else with built-in support. These show "Low support", "Medium support" or "High support" with the three-bar meter at one, two or three bars; "Low support", "Light", "Mid", "Moderate", "Max" and "Maximum" work too, in any case. Any other text, such as "Shelf bra", shows in the pill as written, without a meter. Leave it empty on everything without support. For the filter and the support chips, write exactly Low, Medium or High, the words the chips link with.

Compression (custom.compression): a whole number from 1 (light) to 5 (maximum), as the meter's five segments. The words come from Compression words in theme settings ("4 of 5, firm hold"). A blank value, 0, a decimal or a word hides the meter; a number above 5 counts as 5. Leave it empty on mats, bottles and bags.

Stretch (custom.stretch): a short phrase, such as "4-way stretch" or "2-way stretch".

Fit type (custom.fit_type): a short phrase, such as "Second skin", "Compression" or "Relaxed". Write Compression for compression styles: the size-up line and the fit finder treat a style as firm when its fit type contains that word, or when its compression is at or above Suggest sizing up from compression (chapter 9).

Fabric features (custom.fabric_features): short phrases, one per value, such as "Squat-proof", "Sweat-wicking", "Quick-dry", "Pockets", "UPF 50+", "Recycled". Each becomes a chip with an icon chosen by its words:

The label always shows beside its icon. A single line separated by commas works too.

Composition (custom.composition): the fabric as it's printed on the label, such as "75% recycled nylon, 25% elastane". A full stop is added if it doesn't end in one.

Set with (custom.set_with): the products that go with this one, in the order you want them listed: on the leggings, the matching bra; on the bra, the leggings. Up to three are shown (chapter 10). Fill it in on each piece, both ways, so the set shows whichever piece a shopper opens first. Give matching pieces the same colour names ("Fern" on both).

Size matrix (custom.size_matrix): only for a product that's cut differently from your theme-wide Size chart, such as compression leggings that run small, or a product where you want extra columns in its How it fits chart. The same format as the theme setting: a header line, then one size per line, cells separated by |:

Size | Height cm | Weight kg | Waist cm
XS | 150–160 | 45–52 | 60–65
S | 155–165 | 52–60 | 65–70
M | 160–170 | 60–68 | 70–76
L | 165–175 | 68–77 | 76–82
XL | 170–180 | 77–88 | 82–90

• The first column is the size, written exactly as in the product's Size option ("M", not "Medium").
• The header line comes first. It's recognised because its second cell doesn't start with a number, and its headings tell Rep which columns to use: one heading containing Height and one containing Weight. Without a header, the second column is read as height in cm and the third as weight in kg.
• Units: heights in centimetres, in inches with in in the heading (Height in), or in feet with ft in the heading (Height ft, decimal feet such as 5.4); weights in kilograms, or in pounds with lb in the heading (Weight lb). Rep converts them. Feet and inches written together, such as 5'4, 5'4" or 5 ft 4 in, are read as feet and inches under any heading.
• Ranges use a hyphen (150-160), an en dash (150–160) or "to" (150 to 160). A unit in a cell, such as 150–160 cm, is ignored.
• An open range such as 88+ means 88 and up: the fit finder gives it the same width as the row above (for XL | 170–180 | 88+ after a 9 kg-wide row, 88 to 97 kg).
• Extra columns, such as Waist cm or Hip cm, show in the How it fits chart but are ignored by the fit finder's maths.
• Blank lines and lines starting with # are skipped. A row without a readable height and weight range is left out of both the chart and the maths.
• A product's chart replaces the theme setting only when it has at least two sizes the fit finder can read.

Imperial example:

Size | Height in | Weight lb
S | 61–65 | 115–130
M | 63–67 | 130–150
L | 65–69 | 150–170

Inseam (custom.inseam): on each variant, its inside leg length as you want shoppers to read it, such as "25 in" or "64 cm". Only for products that don't have an Inseam option: when every variant shares one length (running shorts at "4 in") it shows as one line under the size pills; when it differs by size, each size pill shows its own (chapter 9).

Step 1: create the definitions

In admin, go to Settings › Custom data › Products and click Add definition for each product metafield you need:

1. Type the Name: Activities, Support level, Compression, Stretch, Fit type, Fabric features, Composition, Set with or Size matrix.
2. Check the Namespace and key under it and change it to exactly the key in the table. Shopify suggests custom. plus the name, so "Fit type" gives custom.fit_type, but a name like "Set with (matching pieces)" would give something like custom.set_with_matching_pieces, which the theme won't find. Change it to custom.set_with.
3. Click Select type and choose the type in the table:
   • Single line text for activities, support level, stretch, fit type, fabric features and composition. For Activities and Fabric features, change One value to List of values.
   • Integer for compression, with One value. Under validations, set a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5, so a wrong number can't be saved.
   • Product for set with, and change One value to List of values (List of products).
   • Multi-line text for size matrix.
4. Save.

Then go to Settings › Custom data › Variants, click Add definition and add Inseam: key custom.inseam, type Single line text, One value.

For the filters, Activities and Support level must be usable in Search & Discovery. If the app later doesn't offer them as a filter source, open the definition again and check its storefront access and filter options: the wording depends on your admin version.

Step 2: fill them in

Open a product in admin and scroll to Metafields. For Inseam, click each variant in the product's Variants list and fill it in on the variant's page. To fill in many at once, select your products, use Bulk edit and add the metafield columns there. Metafields can also go through a product CSV, once they're defined.

The size matrix keeps line breaks: press Enter between lines.

Step 3: set up the filters

Install Shopify's free Search & Discovery app and add Activity (from custom.activities), Support level (from custom.support_level), Size and Colour as filters. The activity tiles, the activity pills, the support chips and cards, and the fit finder's Shop in size M link to them. Chapter 13 has the steps.

Step 4: check

• Open a collection: a product with activities should show up to three small icons beside its price, and a bra with a support level the support pill at the bottom left of its photo.
• Open that product: the activity pills sit above the title, and the Fabric and fit card shows the meter ("4 of 5, firm hold"), stretch, fit, chips and composition.
• Open leggings with an Inseam option: the inseam lengths sit under the sizes. Open shorts whose variants all have custom.inseam "4 in": "Inseam: 4 in" sits under the sizes.
• Open a product with custom.set_with: Complete the set lists its pieces in the same colour. Change the colour and the pieces follow.
• Click Fit finder, enter 168 cm and 63 kg with True to size: with the default chart, it says Your size: M. Open another product: "Your size: M" is beside its size label.

If a value doesn't show, check the namespace and key first, then the owner (product or variant), then the type.