Hi @jimboinjungle
Well instead of creating separate attributes for all the categories like color, sizes etc. Create it for and use it multiple times that's the best approach over here !
AKAIK in Magento all the attributes are associated with products instead of categories , like magento have product attributes/attributes set which we can assign to specific product and product type as well !
Also you can use configurable product type for this kind of products !
on an conclusion go with creating single attributes and use those attribute to multiple times for the same!
Hope it helps
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