Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
This section contains concepts and terms that are of interest to members of the apparel industry, fashion industry or textile industry. The goal of this area is to provide information formatted around key topics of interest to the industry in which we work, as well as to the ultimate consumer of fashion products. On this page, you will find areas of interest that begin with the letter “O”. The O terms are mostly about how fashion is sold and judged: omnichannel retailing and online clothing retailers describe the channels, outlet stores describe value retail, one-off describes single-run designer collaborations, op-ed describes opinion reporting, organic fashion describes certified natural clothing, and outfits, out of fashion and out of style describe how clothing is put together and how its popularity rises and falls.
This section contains concepts and terms that we feel are of interest to members of the apparel industry, fashion industry or textile industry.
The goal of this area is to provide you with information that is formatted around key topics of interest to the industry in which we work as well as ultimate consumer of fashion products.
On this page, you will find areas of interest that begin with the letter "O".
Retail channels dominate this letter. Omnichannel fashion explains the seamless approach in which a shopper experiences one brand across mobile, web, store, television, radio, direct mail and catalog channels rather than a separate channel within the brand. Online clothing retailers are the businesses that sell apparel, footwear and accessories primarily through digital platforms, using e-commerce software, personalization, mobile shopping and virtual try-on tools. Outlet stores complete the channel picture from the value end: brand goods, past-season merchandise and overstock sold at discounted prices, which helps clothing companies clear inventory and protect brand value in full-price stores while giving consumers lower prices.
A second group covers how fashion is made once and how it is talked about. A one-off is something done or created only once — in fashion, often a single designer or celebrity collection for a retail chain, such as the Roberto Cavalli, Madonna and Kate Moss collections that drew publicity for the chains that offered them. An op-ed is the opinion counterpart to news reporting: a signed article by a named author who is not on the publication's editorial board, and a fashion op-ed argues a point about clothing, footwear or accessories rather than simply reporting one.
The remaining terms concern the clothes themselves. Organic fashion covers clothing made from fibers grown and certified under organic standards, outfits are coordinated sets of clothing and accessories worn together to create a look, and out of fashion and out of style are the paired judgments for clothing that has fallen behind current trends — the state every trend eventually reaches.
Start with the term list directly under the introduction — those links are the whole O section, each exactly one click away, including the organic fashion page, which sits in its own subfolder because of the size of its subject. Readers looking for a topic rather than a letter can use Fashion Terms by Category, which groups terms around subjects, and the full Fashion Terms Directory for the complete A to Z listing across both directory pages. Terms that start with a number have their own directory page as well, linked from the letter bar.
The O section covers omnichannel fashion, one-off, online clothing retail, op-ed fashion reporting, organic fashion, outfits, out of fashion, out of style and outlet stores — each reachable from the term list on this page.
Every O term has its own page with a definition and explanation written for the apparel, fashion and textile industries. The list on this page links to each of them, and the Fashion Terms Directory links onward to the other letter directories.
The terms are written for members of the apparel, fashion and textile industries and for consumers of fashion products who want a plain explanation of an industry concept.