Starting September 22nd Google will start requiring new fields for merchants participating in the Google Product Search feeds. Please see the following Google article
http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=188494
We have added additional fields on the item edit and import areas to support these new requirements. The new fields include the following: Color, Size, Material, Pattern, Gender, Age Group. These new fields are required for certain types of items specifically apparel. Please check with Google for further information on if your items require these new fields are not.
Please note that if your items come in multiple colors, sizes, patterns etc and an attribute is defined for Size, Color, Pattern, Gender etc the attribute will be used instead of the single defined field.
We will begin sending feeds with the new fields included if available starting next week. Google will continue to accept the feeds without the new fields until the September 22nd date.