Fix missing color, size, gender and age group for apparel in Merchant Center
Typical Merchant Center message: Missing value [color] / [size] / [gender] / [age_group]
Reviewed October 12, 2026 against Google’s published rules.
For apparel, Google requires more than for other products. In the US and several other countries clothing needs color, gender and age group, and clothing and shoes also need a size. Missing values disapprove the product.
What to provide
- Color: the main color of each variant, as shoppers would name it.
- Gender: male, female or unisex.
- Age group: newborn, infant, toddler, kids or adult.
- Size: the size of each variant, for clothing and shoes.
- A shared item_group_id for all variants of one product, so Google can group them.
How to do it in Shopify
- Name your variant options exactly Color and Size, so feed tools can read them.
- Set the Google product category on each product to the right Apparel & Accessories category.
- Fill gender and age group through the Google & YouTube channel’s product settings or metafields, or through a feed app.
- Check one variant in Merchant Center to confirm all four values arrive.
Check your own catalog for these issues
FeedGuard reads color and size from your variant options and the product category from your catalog, then shows which apparel variants are still missing color, gender, age group or size.
Google’s requirement: support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324487. FeedGuard checks your data against published rules; Google makes the final approval decision.
Independent guidance. Google’s current documentation and decisions control. FeedGuard is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google or Shopify, and this guide is not an official Google Help Center page.