Color swatches
How to add color swatches to the Simple theme
Add color swatches to the retired Simple theme: apps that work on vintage themes, the code route, collection pages and fixes.
- Simple Retired theme
- Made by Shopify
- Free (retired)
- Native swatches: no
- Left the Theme Store around November 2022 (from archived pages)
Shopify theme
The Simple Shopify theme.
Simple is a retired free Shopify theme made by Shopify. It left the Theme Store around November 2022 (from archived pages). Stores that installed it can keep running it. It can't show Shopify's native color swatches on its own.
The facts.
From the Shopify Theme Store and Shopify's own pages. A setting we could not confirm in the vendor's own documentation says "not confirmed by the vendor".
Checked
| Theme | Simple |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Shopify |
| Price | Free (retired) Was free in the Shopify Theme Store; no longer offered to new installs. |
| Free or paid | Free |
| Where it is sold | No longer in the Shopify Theme Store |
| Status | Retired theme Left the Theme Store around November 2022 (from archived pages). |
| Online Store 2.0 | No, a vintage theme |
| Theme family | A vintage Shopify theme |
| Native color swatches | No |
| Swatch documentation | Shopify Help Center |
| Last checked | October 23, 2026 |
Image sizes.
Simple's vendor publishes no image sizes we could find, so Shopify's own figures apply. The image size guides list them with their sources.
Guides for Simple.
Tool
Theme image size checker
Drop in product photos, banners and logos to check them against Shopify's limits and Simple's documented sizes.
Swatch apps for Simple.
The apps the Simple swatch guide suggests, and what each App Store listing says about theme support (checked October 23, 2026). Ratings and the full comparison are on the color swatch hub.
| App | From | Theme support | Collection pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| GLO Color Swatch Variant Image | $9.90/month | Listing says it works with all themes | Yes |
| Color Swatch Pug | $6.99/month | Listing names no themes | Yes |
| OP Color Swatch Variant Images | $11.90/month | Listing offers theme setup help, names no themes | Not listed |
| Swatchy ‑ Color Swatches | $8.99/month | Listing names no themes | Not listed |
Moving off Simple.
Shopify's current free themes read its swatch data on their own:
Other Shopify themes with profiles here:
- Horizon (free shopify theme)
- Atelier (free shopify theme)
- Dwell (free shopify theme)
- Fabric (free shopify theme)
- Heritage (free shopify theme)
- Pitch (free shopify theme)
- Ritual (free shopify theme)
- Savor (free shopify theme)
- Tinker (free shopify theme)
- Vessel (free shopify theme)
- Dawn (free shopify theme)
- Sense (free shopify theme)
- Craft (free shopify theme)
- Crave (free shopify theme)
- Refresh (free shopify theme)
- Ride (free shopify theme)
- Studio (free shopify theme)
- Taste (free shopify theme)
- Colorblock (free shopify theme)
- Publisher (free shopify theme)
- Spotlight (free shopify theme)
- Origin (free shopify theme)
- Trade (free shopify theme)
- Rise (free shopify theme)
- Debut (retired theme)
- Brooklyn (retired theme)
- Venture (retired theme)
- Minimal (retired theme)
- Supply (retired theme)
- Narrative (retired theme)
- Boundless (retired theme)
- Express (retired theme)
- Pop (retired theme)
- Jumpstart (retired theme)
Sources.
Every fact above comes from one of these pages. The swatch guide lists the Shopify help pages its steps rely on.
Pages about Simple
- Shopify Help Center: theme architecture versions and sources
- Shopify Community: thread on finding the Debut theme (reply of December 11, 2022)
- Shopify Help Center: adding color swatches using category metafields
- Shopify Theme Store: former Simple page (no longer listed)
- Wayback Machine: Simple Theme Store listing as captured October 10, 2022
Set up swatches on Simple.
Shopify's own swatches, an app or the code route, with the setting names for this theme.