# Theme metafields overview

> How a Shoplazza metafield is built from a namespace, key, type, and value, with worked examples of storing product-specific information for a theme to display.

Metafields are a flexible way for your app to add and store additional information about a Shoplazza resource, such as a product, a collection, and many other types.

## How it works

A metafield includes the following parts:

* **Namespace**: A container for a group of metafields. Grouping metafields within a namespace prevents your metafields from conflicting with other metafields with the same key name.
* **Key**: The name of the metafield.
* **Type**: The [type of data](./type) that the metafield stores.
* **Value**: The data to store in the metafield.

### Examples

In the following examples, a merchant that sells clothing uses metafields to store the care instructions for each product. The online store has separate metafields for washing and drying instructions, which are grouped by the `instructions` namespace. Each product can have a different value for each metafield. A metafield set includes all the data for a particular metafield.

The following example shows the structure of the `instructions.wash` metafield:

```json title="Metafield structure"
{
  "product": {
    "metafields": {
      "namespace": "instructions",
      "key": "wash",
      "type": "single_line_text_field",
      "value": "Machine wash cold."
    }
  }
}
```

## Metafield types

Each metafield has a type, which defines the type of information that it can store. The metafield types have built-in validation and [Liquid](/docs/theme/references/liquid/objects/metafield) support.

For more information about the supported types, refer to [Metafield types](./type).