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Color swatch guide

How to add color swatches to the Capital theme.

Capital is a paid theme by Eight Themes, $320 in the Theme Store and at version 37.2.0 (October 23, 2026) when we checked on October 23, 2026. Version 37.0.0, released September 7, 2026, was a ground-up rebuild whose settings and section content don't carry over from older versions, and it adds a variant picker with color swatches. The documented setting paths are for version 36 and earlier.

Checked Capital theme profile

Which route fits Capital?

Route 1

Shopify's native swatches.

  1. Give each product a category

    In Products, open a product and choose the most specific match in the Category field. Categories come from Shopify's Standard Product Taxonomy, and picking one adds that category's attributes to the product as category metafields. You want a category that lists Color (or a color attribute such as Frame color or Band color). If Color is missing under Category metafields, try a narrower category.

  2. Add the colors you sell

    Under Category metafields, open Color and select every color your variants come in. Each color is a reusable entry. You can rename an entry, set its exact hex value or upload a pattern image later in Content > Metaobjects, and the change shows everywhere that entry is used.

  3. Link the Color option to the metafield

    In the Variants section, add an option and pick Color from the suggestions so its values come from the entries you just chose. If the product already has a Color option, open it, use the connect icon beside the option name and choose the Color category metafield. Swatches only appear for options linked this way, so do this on every product you want swatches on in Capital.

  4. Turn on swatches in the variant picker

    Up to version 36, Eight Themes documented this as the Product section's Variant picker block > Variant style: Swatches. Version 37 rebuilt the theme, and its swatch settings aren't documented yet: look for the variant picker block in the product template and a swatch style inside it.

  5. Turn on swatches on product cards

    Up to version 36 this was Theme settings > Product cards > Show swatches. In version 37, look in Theme settings for a product card group with a swatch option.

  6. Check it on a real product page

    Save, then open a product in a private browser window and on your phone. Click each swatch and confirm the price, photo and stock message change with it. If Capital shows plain text buttons instead, go back to the linking step: the option is probably not linked to the Color category metafield yet.

Route 2

A swatch app.

Capital's own swatches cover the product page, but version 37's card swatch setting isn't documented yet. GLO Color Swatch Variant Image and Color Swatch Pug both list collection-page swatches, and OP Color Swatch Variant Images restyles the product-page picker with stock badges.

  1. Duplicate Capital first

    In Online Store > Themes, open the menu beside Capital and choose Duplicate. Set up the app on the copy, preview it, and publish the copy only when the swatches look right. Your live store keeps working while you test.

  2. Install the app and start its trial or free plan

    Install the app from the Shopify App Store and approve the access it asks for. Every app suggested on this page had a free plan, a free listing or a free trial of 7 to 30 days when we checked on October 23, 2026, so you can test before you pay.

  3. Switch on the app embed

    Open the theme editor on your copy (Online Store > Themes, then Customize or Edit theme), click the App embeds icon in the left sidebar, switch on the app's embed and click Save.

  4. Match each color name to a swatch

    In the app's own settings, give each color name a hex value or a small image. Apps read your option values as text, so Navy on one product and Navy Blue on another need two swatches. Tidy the names first and you only set each color once.

  5. Avoid two sets of swatches

    If the app draws its own swatches, switch Capital's swatch style off.

  6. Preview a product page and a collection page

    Use the theme editor preview, then a phone, to check both page types in Capital. If the app adds collection-page swatches, click one on a product card and confirm the card's photo or link changes to that color.

Apps that fit Capital

Swatch apps for Capital, from each App Store listing on October 23, 2026
AppFromRatingWhat it does
GLO Color Swatch Variant Image $9.90/month 4.9 (1,906 reviews) A dedicated swatch app whose free plan already covers collection-page swatches and hiding sold-out options; image swatches start on the $9.90 Silver plan.
Color Swatch Pug $6.99/month 4.6 (55 reviews) One $6.99 monthly plan with a 14-day trial for color and pattern swatches on collection and product pages; it isn't Built for Shopify, and its listing still links to this site, which is independent of the publisher.
OP Color Swatch Variant Images $11.90/month 5.0 (802 reviews) Replaces your theme's text picker with color and image swatches plus stock badges; pricing follows your Shopify plan, from $11.90 a month.

Prices and ratings change often; check the listing before you install. This site is not affiliated with any of these publishers.

Alternatives: Swatchy (Color Swatches) has a free plan for one product, and option builders such as Globo Product Options and Aris Product Options include swatches alongside text fields and add-on prices. Prices and ratings are in the apps table on the color swatch guide hub.

Route 3

Editing the theme code.

You don't need to edit code for swatches in Capital. Capital 37 adds a variant picker with color swatches, so the job should be a setting once you find it.

Collection pages.

Up to version 36, Capital showed card swatches with Theme settings > Product cards > Show swatches. Version 37's card setting isn't documented yet.

  1. Look for a card swatch option

    Open Theme settings and look for a product card group with a swatch option. In version 36 and earlier it was Product cards > Show swatches.

  2. Add color filters with swatches (optional)

    The Theme Store lists swatch filters for Capital (checked October 23, 2026). Open the Search & Discovery app, go to Filters > Add filter, choose Color with the type Category metafield, then open Manage values and turn on Include swatch. For patterns, turn on Use images when available so the filter shows each entry's image.

Capital at a glance.

The theme's facts from the Shopify Theme Store and Eight Themes' documentation, checked October 23, 2026. Anything we could not confirm says so.

Full Capital profile Check images against Capital's sizes
Capital: theme facts
Theme Capital
Vendor Eight Themes
Price $320 One-time license price in the Shopify Theme Store, in US dollars, checked October 23, 2026.
Free or paid Paid
Where it is sold Shopify Theme Store
Status Current theme
Online Store 2.0 Yes
Current version 37.2.0 (October 23, 2026)
Native color swatches Yes
Variant picker block Not confirmed by the vendor
Swatch setting Not confirmed by the vendor
Swatches on product cards Not confirmed by the vendor
Theme Store swatch features Color swatches, swatch filters, combined listings
Swatch documentation Eight Themes' documentation
General advice No fixed size No set pixel dimensions; aspect-ratio guidance only. Source: Eight Themes' documentation.
Last checked October 23, 2026

Swatch problems on Capital, and fixes.

  • Swatches not showing

    Work through three checks in order: the product has a category that includes Color, its Color option is linked to the Color category metafield, and the swatch setting is on in Capital. If you updated to Capital 37 from an older version, your old settings didn't carry over, so set swatches up again in the new variant picker.

  • Wrong colors

    A native swatch takes its color from the entry in Content > Metaobjects, not from the color's name. Open the entry, correct the hex value and save, and every product linked to it updates at once. If two products show different shades of the same color, they're probably linked to two separate entries, so point both at one.

  • Pattern or image swatches

    Upload a square image to the color's entry. Crop it to the fabric or finish itself rather than a product photo, because at swatch size a busy photo turns into a blur. Multicolor has no preset hex value, so it always needs an image. Eight Themes gives aspect ratios, not pixel sizes; keep swatch images small.

  • Out-of-stock variants

    How a sold-out color looks is decided by the variant picker in Capital, so test it: set one color to zero stock and open the product. If you'd rather hide sold-out colors completely, Color Swatch Pug and GLO Color Swatch Variant Image both list that option (checked October 23, 2026).

  • Speed

    Native swatches are drawn by Capital itself, so they add no app script to your pages. A hex swatch costs nothing extra to load; an image swatch adds one small image per color, so keep those files small. The swatch loading speed guide shows how to measure a collection page before and after a change.

Capital swatch questions.

What changed for swatches in Capital 37?

Capital 37.0.0, from September 7, 2026, rebuilt the theme: settings, templates and section content don't carry over, and the settings were cut from about 1,600 to under 600. It adds a variant picker with color swatches.

Will my Capital swatch settings survive the move to 37?

No. Eight Themes says settings and section content don't carry over to 37, so plan to set swatches up again. Your colors in Content > Metaobjects stay put.

Which Capital versions support native swatches?

Eight Themes added category-metafield swatches in 33.3.0, from September 6, 2024, in the older codebase, and version 37 includes swatches in its new variant picker.

Where were the swatch settings in Capital 36?

Variant style: Swatches in the Product section's Variant picker block, and Show swatches under Theme settings > Product cards.

Where did the old Color Swatch Pug guide for Capital go?

This page replaces an older guide on this domain about installing an earlier version of the app on Capital. The independent setup guide for today's app is at /csp-app-setup-guide/.

Related guides and tools.

Themes like Capital

About this page

This page replaces an older Color Swatch Pug setup guide for this theme, first archived in September 2021 on this domain. The domain changed hands in September 2026, and the app's setup has changed since the old guide was written.

Checked

Sources

Make the swatch files.

Turn your colors into hex values, swatch images and a printable sheet, ready for Shopify.

Open the swatch generator All theme guides