Textile, Apparel, Retail, and Trade Terminology

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Off grain – Characteristic of being cut so that the vertical direction of a garment component does not fall parallel to the warp of the fabric. Garments that are cut off grain do not hang properly when worn.

Off shade – A dyed yarn or fabric that does not match the shade master or fall within the predetermined shade tolerance range. Off shade fabrics are considered unacceptable.

Off color – A dyed yarn or fabric that does not match the shade master or fall within the predetermined shade tolerance range. Off color fabrics are considered unacceptable.

Offshore assembly – Assembling garments in one country from components cut in another.

Off quality – Any product that does not meet established quality standards.

¹³ Ibid.

Open to buy – The amount of money a buyer has to spend for merchandise for a given period of time. Each time the buyer purchases goods, the open – to – buy is reduced by the amount of money spent for those goods.

Order lead time – The time between the date an order is placed until the mercdhandise is ready to sell on the retail floor.

Organic – Grown without use of pesticides or other chemicals. For ethical or marketing purposes, some garment manufacturers use only organic cotton. The US Government ahs legislated guidelines governing the use of the word “organic,” in advertising and product promotion.

Outerwear – Category of men’s and / or women’s and / or children’s clothing intended to be worn over regular clothing; includes coats, jackets, raincoats.

Overdyed – A product that has been dyed after completion, sometimes on products made of fabrics that has already been printed or dyed once.

Overlocking – A type of sewing stitch that forms loops over the fabric edge at the same time it stitches a seam, in order to form a finished seam that will not unravel.

Over run – Production beyond the ordered amount, resulting in an excess of goods. These goods may sometimes be sold at greatly reduced prices, but some contracts prohibit factories from selling overruns.

Overstock – Goods in excess of the anticipated needs. These goods must generally be sold at greatly reduced prices.

Overtime – Working hours above and beyond the normal number of scheduled hours in a given work - week. Ethical companies generally pay a higher hourly wage rate for overtime work.

Packing list – A document describing contents of a shipment, without stating prices or value of goods.

Pallet – A wooden platform onto which goods are loaded and strapped or otherwise temporarily affixed for ease of movement or transport.

Palletized – Loaded and strapped onto a wooden pallet for ease of transport and / or shipping.

Pantone® - A widely used system of color identification and communication that allows individuals in geographically separate locations discuss specific colors through use of unique established Pantone® codes. (www.pantone.com)

Payroll – The total of all wages to be paid for a specific period of time. Partially reflects the labor costs associated with a period of production.

Permanent Press – A chemical treatment to fabric that helps it resist wrinkles. Popular for cotton fabrics used for men’s shirts and certain other apparel.

Piece goods - Fabrics sold at retail by the piece, from bolts or rolls, for consumer, as opposed to industrial, use.

Piece dyed – Fabrics dyed in fabric (vs. fiber or yarn) form.

Piece rate – A pay rate determined by the number of pieces completed rather than the amount of time worked.

Piece worker – A worker who is paid by the number of pieces processed rather than by the length of time worked.

Pile – A surface effect on a fabric formed by tufts or loops of yarn that stand up from the body of the fabric.¹⁴

Pilling – The development of small balls of fiber on the surface of a knit fabric as a result of abrasion or repeated exposure to a rough surface.

Pinking – A method of cutting fabric utilizing a non – straight cutting blade /\/\/\/\/\ that leaves an edge less susceptible to raveling. Often used for fabric swatches.

Plaid – A woven design created by using warp and weft yarns of different colors.

Planogram – A visual plan of a section of the retail floor, or a section of a retail sales shelf, indicating precisely where each unit of merchandise will be displayed. Many suppliers offer planograms to their customers as a way of making it easy for retailers to buy and merchandise the product, and to help ensure the supplier’s products are placed in the optimal location on the sales floor or sales shelf.

Plus sizing – Category of larger women’s size clothing.

Ply yarn – A yarn formed by twisting two or more yarns together.

Point of purchase (POP) display – a merchandise display located where customers purchase store merchandise, strategically placed to encourage customers to make last – minute impulse purchases of additional or high – profit products.

Policy manual – A book, written by and for a specific company, that outlines the company’s policies pertaining to its methods of doing business, treatment and management of workers, etc.

PM - Promotional money, push money, or prize money – Incentive money a manufacturer offers to retail sales people who sell their brand.

Preshrunk – Fabric that has been laundered or treated before being cut and sewn to that shrinkage after cut and sew is minimized.

Pressing – Act of applying heat, with or without steam, and pressure to a fabric, garment component, or garment to remove wrinkles or impart a fold.

Preticketing – Ticketing of merchandise by the manufacturer in order for the merchandise to be ready for prompt distribution at the retail store.¹⁵

¹⁴ www.onlinecatalogue.biz/textiledictionary/contentword.php.

¹⁵ Frings, Gini Stephens. Fashion From Concept to Consumer, Sixth edition. Prentice Hall.

Press kit – A collection of materials than enable a reporter to easily write a press article about a product, person, company, or event. A press kit is developed for and distributed to the media (newspapers, magazines, radio, and / or television). It usually includes relevant facts, camera – ready art, photographs, and other related materials.

Private label - Merchandise sold under the brand name of a specific retailer; may also be called a house brand.

Product liability – The responsibility of a manufacturer, and in some cases, a seller for defects in goods which cause injury to a purchaser, user, or consumer of the goods or cause damage to the purchaser’s business.¹⁶

Product life cycle – A description of the natural rise and decline, over an extended period of time, of sales of a particular product. The product life cycle compares the pattern to the birth, growth, maturity, and aging / decline of a living being.

Pro forma invoice – Price quote given to a buyer.

Qualification - see Vendor qualification

Quality assurance – To carry out planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality.

Quality control – The operational techniques and activities undertaken to help ensure that a product or service meets specified quality standards.

Queen sizing – Category of larger women’s size clothing.

Quilting – A process of stitching two fabrics together with a layer of cotton, polyester, or silk between, to give a three dimensional quality to the fabric, and to provide extra warmth. Quilting may be done by hand- or machine stitching.

Quota – A legislated limit on the number of units of a particular product that can be imported. Generally established by product, and country for a specific period of time.

® - see registered trademark.

Rack display – A wire rack specially designed to display specific merchandise, making it easy for the retailer to show the merchandise and easy for the customer to view the goods.

Rag trade – A somewhat derogatory term used to describe the textile and apparel industry.

Registered trademark – A trademark that has been registered with the appropriate government body in the country in which it is to be used. Denoted by the symbol ®. United States trademark information is available through the US Patent and Trademark Office. (www.uspto.gov)

¹⁶ Johnson, Thomas E. Export / Import Procedures and Documentation. Third Edition. 1997. American Management Association.

Reinspection – The process of reexamining a product after it has been found substandard and reworked or defects have been otherwise corrected.

Reject – A product that does not meet established quality standards.

Remnant – A short piece of fabric left at the end of a production run. A remnant is not long enough to be of full commercial value; remnants may be bundled and sold in bulk for a drastically reduced price.

Reorder point – The level at inventory at which a customer needs to order additional stock in order to avoid running out of stock. This term may be applied to manufacturing and to retailing.

Reorder trigger point – a point at which an alarm is triggered to alert a buyer to order additional stock.

Resident buying office – An office that may be located close to a major production center, in order to facilitate communications and oversight between suppliers and the buying company.

Resort – A category of upmarket, casual, lightweight clothing sold mid – winter, intended for consumers vacationing in warm climates during the winter season.

Retail floor. The area of a store in which merchandise is displayed and sold.

Rework – A product that did not originally meet quality standards and has been reprocessed to correct the defect.

Rib knit– A form of knit fabric with vertical rows of knitting loops visible on both sides of the cloth. This fabric features more elasticity than jersey knit.¹⁷

Ring spun yarn – Yarn formed on ring – spinning equipment; usually finer, softer yarn.

Robinson - Patman Act – A United States act that makes it illegal for manufacturers and wholesalers to discriminate against one customer or another with price or terms of purchase on products of “like quality.”

Roller printing – A method of printing fabric that utilizes a machine with multiple rollers, each engraved or laser cut to print a one color of a pattern. Successive rollers are carefully synchronized to overlay layers of color until the pattern is complete.

Rules of Origin – WTO rules for determining the country of origin for a given product.

Running – Two uses: 1) the undesirable migration of dye or color from one article or component to another, usually when the components become wet, or 2) the undesirable vertical unraveling a knit garment when a yarn is broken.

S twist – The \ direction of the twist of a yarn, following the shape of the letter “S”.

Sales floor. The area of a store in which merchandise is displayed and sold.

¹⁷ Apparel Terminology and Definitions. The Factory Store. http://namebrandapparel.com/blanks_definitions.html.

Screen printing – A stencil – like printing process of forcing dye or ink through a patterned screen in order to transfer color (hence design) to a fabric or item of clothing.

Seam allowance – The width of fabric between the cut edge and the stitching of a seam. Commercial buyers generally specify seam allowance in their product specifications.

Seam sealing – A method of covering or filling holes caused by stitching a seam. Seam sealing is used on garments intended to be water resistant or waterproof.

Seam slippage – The unwanted displacement of fabric yarns parallel to a seam line arising from transverse stress, resulting in a partial or complete loss of seam integrity.

Seam strength – The degree to which a seam withstands force directed at pulling the seam apart.

Seasons – Retail periods based on different consumer needs, especially for apparel and fashion accessories, based on the climatic and holiday periods of the year; standard retail seasons include Spring, Summer, Back to School, Winter, Holiday and / or Resort.

Second – A product that does not meet established quality standards.

Selvage – The outer edges of a piece of fabric, running the length of the fabric; woven using larger yarn or higher thread count to give structural stability to a piece of fabric. The selvage will not ravel, but is not considered appropriate for use in apparel.

Serging – Generally used to describe a finishing stitch that overlaps and reinforces the cut edges of a garment, such as a seam or buttonhole.

Shade master – A piece of fabric representing the exact desired color for a particular order; used as a basis of comparison for determining whether subsequent dyelots of fabric are of a color acceptable to the customer.

Shift work – A work schedule that divides a twenty – four hour day into two or more work periods, or “shifts.”

Ship’s manifest – A document containing a list of the shipments comprising the cargo of a vessel.¹⁸

Shrinkage – For apparel and textiles, shrinkage refers to the reduction in size that may occur during laundering or exposure to water or certain other agents. In retailing, shrinkage refers to loss of inventory due to inventory control errors, damage, and / or theft.

Shrinkwrap – A method of protecting or holding together one or more container by wrapping the container/s with a heat – reactive plastic, then heating the plastic so that it shrinks to fit snuggly around the container/s. May be used in packing fabrics or cartons for shipment.

Social Accountability International. SAI works to address growing consumer concern about labor conditions around the world. SAI developed a standard for workplace conditions and

¹⁸ Johnson, Thomas E. Export / Import Procedures and Documentation. Third Edition. 1997. American Management Association..

 system for independent verification (SA8000). www.cepaa.org/AboutSAI/CodesofConductBackground.

SKU – Stock Keeping Unit; a unique identification code assigned to each unique combination of product / color / size. This code is used as the foundation for inventory control systems, and all related order and sales records.

Sleepwear – Category of clothing intended for wearing for sleep, including pajamas, nightgowns, bathrobes, slippers.

Slub – A greater concentration of fibers causing a thicker section of yarn; slubs may be either a quality defect, or may be an intentional design feature of a yarn.

Slub yarn – Yarn containing thick places (slubs) as part of the intended design.

Sourcing – Searching around the world for the available suppliers / goods that meet a commercial buyer’s criteria.

Spec sheet – A document that gives all the details necessary for manufacturing a particular product; includes design details, size information, construction methods to be used, quality standards that must be met.

Speed to market – The elapsed time from order placement to arrival on the retail sales floor. Speed to market is increasingly a factor in competitiveness of any company in the apparel chain.

Spinning – The process of extruding and hardening man – made fibers; the process of drawing and twisting staple fibers together into yarn or thread.¹⁹

Sportswear – Category of clothing intended for casual and moderate spots activities; includes casual slacks, tops, jackets, sweatshirts, etc.

Stack cutting – Cutting multiple layers of cloth at the same time, for greater efficiency; may cut fifty or more layers of fabric at one time.

Staple length – Length of average length of individual fibers.

Staple merchandise – Products regularly carried by a retailer.

Stitch length – The length of individual stitches in a seam; commercial buyers often specify the stitch length to be used during garment construction. Stitch length is one representative characteristic of product quality; long stitch length is generally associated with poor seam strength, hasty production, and lower product quality.

Stitching tension – The balance between the upper and lower threads; proper balance is necessary to ensure a seam will lay flat and will have optimal strength.

Stone washed – A finishing process used to give fabrics and / or garments an aged or distressed appearance by subjecting the goods to a tumbling process with small stones or similar abrasive particles.

¹⁹ Frings, Gini Stephens. Fashion From Concept to Consumer, Sixth edition. Prentice Hall

Strategic alliance – A partnership between two or more noncompeting companies for the purposes of creating a synergistic or mutually beneficial business relationship that either partner would be unable to create as efficiently on its own.

Strategic partnership – A formal business partnership between two or more separate companies having related business goals, for the purpose of creating greater synergies or long term strategic business advantages.

Stripe – A pattern of parallel colored lines or bands, created either by utilizing different colored warp yarns, or by printing the colored lines and bands.

Subcontractor – A company producing for a contractor that has an order to produce goods but has insufficient production capacity to fulfill the order in the time required.

Supply chain – The logistics activities that, when linked together, provide for the production and delivery of goods from raw material to finished product, to retail outlet.

Swatch card – A card on which a small sample of fabric is attached to show potential buyers what a specific fabric actually looks and feels like.

Sweatshop – a manufacturing facility characterized by poor treatment of workers including long hours, poor and / or hazardous physical work conditions, low pay, use of inappropriate threats and / or corporal punishment.

Swimwear – Category of clothing intended for swimming and / or sunbathing; may include accessories such as beach wraps, sarongs.

Synthetic fiber – A textile fiber created chemically; also referred to as a man – made fiber because it does not occur naturally.

™ - see trademark.

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