Client walkthrough

School's Out Designer Kidswear

Product data & category standards

Why products miss the right page — and how we fix classification before end of September.

The problem

Why we’re here

  • Menus look organised — but smart collections match exact tags. One spelling difference and a product never lands on the right page.
  • Classic failure mode: tagged Dress when the collection wants Dresses — looks fine in Admin, missing on the storefront (“Emily dress”).
  • Broken collection rules still live on the site (tags that match zero products) → empty or misleading category pages.
  • Same idea stored many ways (Baby/baby/Babies) so every new upload is a gamble — placement depends on memory, not a standard.
  • Custom So___ fields and 350+ product types add Admin noise without powering filters or collections.
This is a taxonomy design problem — not a one-off product bug. Fix the rules of classification, then clean the catalogue.
Catalogue

Catalogue snapshot

2,265
Products · 1,992 active
14,980
Variant rows
883
Unique tags
353
Product types
162
Collections · 148 smart
141
Tag-based collection rules
31
Vendors (brands)
14
Collections with 0 products
178
Shopify product categories in use
279
Products Uncategorized
~50%
So___ fields populated
8
Tag rules matching 0 products
The store works at scale — but classification is inconsistent enough that browsing and every upload risk missing the right page.
Discovery

How shoppers find products today

01 · NAV

Girl / Boy / Baby

Category megamenus. Structure is fine — not the main problem.

02 · COLLECTIONS

Smart rules → tags

141 TAG rules. Exact string match. This is where products go missing.

03 · FILTERS

Price · Brand · Size

Age bands + shoe size. No Colour filter. No So___ filters.

Key point: Menus look organised. Tags decide whether a product actually appears in a category collection.
Problem · tags

Tag soup — how bad is it?

883
Unique tags on 2,265 products
329
Tags used on only 1 product
605
Tags used on ≤5 products
T-Shirts 560 · T-Shirt 537~1.1k
Baby 358 · baby 343 · Babies 187888
Ceremonial 345 · ceremony 319664
new arrivals 1,011 · New Arrivals 81,019
Dresses 222 · dress 48split
Skirts 96 · Skirt 28 · plus 6 dead skirt rulesbroken
Smart collections need an exact match. Close enough ≠ in the collection. Long-tail tags (329 singles) add noise without reliable routing.
Problem · collections

Collections: dead, fragile, redundant

Rule typeCountRole
TAG141Primary category routing — fragile
VENDOR71Brand pages — already correct for most
IS_PRICE_REDUCED32Sale / outlet logic
TITLE24Title-pattern matching
TYPE4Barely used (despite 353 types)
Brand is already on the product as Vendor. Many brand landing pages already use VENDOR rules — we shouldn’t also invent brand tags.

14 collections with 0 products

  • Manual empty shells: Kenzo, Missoni, Michael Kors, Activewear, Bags, Belts, Bibs, Playsuits, Slides
  • Smart but empty: Designer Boys Sweatpants, Designer Kids Slides, DKNY But Offers, Non Sale, Chole & Jule Outlet…

8 dead tag rules (0 matches)

  • Pyjamas — Kids pyjamas, Infant onesie
  • Skirts — 6 tags incl. Skorts, summer skirts, Skirt for Girls…
Problem · custom fields

So Age Group & So Categories

  • Only ~half the catalogue has them (~1,130 / 2,265)
  • 69 distinct So Age Group values · 373 distinct So Categories values — many compound / multi-line
  • Examples: Newborn↵Toddler, Junior Girls, Tops↵Clothing Accessories
  • Do not drive collections · do not power storefront filters
Uncertain what these fields were meant to power. They look important in Admin, but nothing on the live storefront reads them. Likely leftover from older mapping work.

Proposal: retire them → Shopify Product Category + Size/Color metafields.
Problem · size discovery

Size filters & metafields

LayerWhat it isExample
Variant SizeWhat the shopper picks on the PDP4Y, 6Y, 12M
Size metafieldShopify taxonomy → collection filters4-5-years, 6-y-2
So Age GroupCustom field — not the filterJunior / Toddler…
  • Storefront Size filter = age bands from the Size category metafield, not variant labels
  • CSV must use taxonomy handles — Admin labels like 4-5Y fail import (“select a metaobject”)
  • Wrong Product Category (adult / accessory subtypes) → Size/Color metafields rejected or blank

Why this hurts

  • Missing / wrong Size metafield → product can vanish from Size filter results even when sizes exist on the PDP (Lucy flagged this on Drop 2)
  • 279 products still Uncategorized — weak taxonomy base for metafields
  • Drop 2 proof: accessories + wrong swim/sweatshirt subtypes blocked Size/Color; had to skip metafields or fix category
  • Colour metafield same rule — only when the product category allows it
UX opportunity · optional

Colourway linking (not a data-model change)

Today each colour is already its own product (good for SEO). Shoppers just can’t switch colour without leaving the page.

Today

Black tee and navy tee = two products, two URLs. No swatches. Shopper searches or browses again to find the sibling.

→

Link siblings

Same style code grouped via Combined Listings (or theme related products / swatches).

→

Result

One-click colour flip on the PDP. Keep separate URLs, photos, and Shopping listings.

This is a discovery / UX upgrade on top of the current model — not merging colours into variants (which would hurt SEO and ads). Optional spike in the Sep window if you want it.
Target

Metafields first, tags last

WhatSource of truthTags?
BrandVendor (already powers most brand pages)No
CategoryShopify Product CategoryTemporary until rules migrate
Size filtersSize category metafieldNo
Colour (data)Color category metafieldNo
GenderGoogle Shopping gender (+ clear unisex rule)Temporary Boy/Girl
Campaigns—Yes — FW26, Sale, CWF-…
Retire empty collection shells. Fix dead rules (Pyjamas, Skirts). Don’t bulk-retag the whole catalogue until collection rules move off tags.
Standards

Field standards

Do

  • Kids Product Category subtypes
  • Size metafield via taxonomy handles
  • Color metafield when allowed
  • Minimal temporary tags matching live rules
  • Campaign tags for promos only
  • Stop writing So___

Don’t

  • Adult categories that break Size/Color
  • Admin display names in CSV
  • Force Color on accessories / swim that reject it
  • 883-tag free-for-all / brand-as-tag
  • Use promo tags as category
  • Keep filling unused customs
Plan

Cleanup phases

PHASE 0

Sign off this standard

PHASE 1

New drops follow the new model

PHASE 2

Rewrite collection rules off tags; fix / retire dead & empty collections

PHASE 3

Clean legacy tags + clear So___

PHASE 4

Optional: Colour filter + colourway linking

We won’t bulk-retag everything before the rules change — that would be wasted work.
Decisions

Please confirm

  1. Retire So Age Group + So Categories?
  2. Unisex gender — supplier first; Unisex or written Kris rule?
  3. Standardise Baby tag to one casing and update rules?
  4. Retire empty / dead collections (0-product shells + broken tag rules)?
  5. Add Colour filter later?
  6. Colourway linking — want a spike in the Sep window?
Next

Approve the standards

Sign off (with any tweaks on the decision list).

Then Sam schedules Phase 2 — collection rules, dead pages, and Size metafield hygiene — in the Sep retainer window.