> Markdown version of [Parent & Sub-Themes](https://vaadin.com/docs/v24/styling/advanced/parent-and-sub-themes). Section index: [llms.txt](https://vaadin.com/docs/v24/styling/llms.txt)

# Parent Themes & Sub-Themes

Multiple themes can be combined in the same application by configuring one of them as a *parent theme* to the other. This is typically used for sharing a common base theme ([packaged as a JAR dependency](https://vaadin.com/docs/v24/styling/advanced/multi-app-themes.md)) across multiple applications, and loading application-specific themes on top of the base theme.

A theme is configured as a parent theme through the parent property in the theme configuration file `theme.json` in the application’s theme folder:

my-application-theme/theme.json

```json
{
  "parent": "my-base-theme"
}
```

```java
@Theme("my-application-theme")
public class Application implements AppShellConfigurator {
  ...
}
```

In the example above, `my-base-theme` is loaded as the parent theme, and `my-application-theme` is loaded on top of it.

It’s also possible to [load additional stylesheets dynamically](https://vaadin.com/docs/v24/styling/advanced/loading-styles-dynamically.md) on top of the application theme.

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