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 “P”. The P terms follow a garment through its whole life: pattern making, piece goods inspection and the production department build it; printed labels, price tags and packaging finish and present it; private label, product development and pre-production submissions organize the business behind it; and peplum, plackets, pocket squares, preppy fashion and punk fashion describe the finished clothing itself.
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 "P".
Production comes first in this letter because so many P terms belong to the factory side of the industry. Pattern making creates the templates that guide fabric cutting and shape the final garment, starting from a block pattern or sloper and moving through drafting, grading, a muslin mock-up and fitting before a final pattern is cut. Piece goods inspection protects that work at the front end: fabric arriving from the mill is sampled and scored under systems such as the four-point system so defects are caught before spreading and cutting. The production department then orchestrates the whole manufacturing process — resources, schedules, quality control, cost, inventory and safety — while the product development process certifies that a supplier understands and follows the specifications set for a product, and pre-production submissions give the buyer an exact example of the bulk garment to approve before production begins.
A second group of P terms covers how finished clothing is identified, priced and packed. Printed labels carry the brand name, size, care instructions and fiber content inside the garment, in base fabrics from satin and cotton to twill and nylon. Price tags — also called price tickets or joker tickets — show the selling price and may also carry style numbers, sizes and UPC numbers, attached with swift tacks or applied as stickers. Packaging completes the presentation: polybags, cardboard boxes, tissue paper, hang tags, hangers, garment bags and shipping envelopes protect garments in transit and in the store, and the choice among plastic, cardboard, paper, metal and textile packaging materials carries real recycling consequences.
Business and retail terms make up a third group. Private label clothing is manufactured by one company and sold under the brand name of another, which is how retailers such as Macy's, Walmart and Target field their own brands without licensing royalty costs. A personal shopper helps customers choose clothing with focused, individual attention, in a department store, a boutique or independently. Pop-up retail opens short-term sales spaces that pop up and disappear within days or weeks, using buzz and entertainment to publicize a brand. Pre-Black Friday sales stretch the holiday selling season earlier and earlier, and the guides to promoting a fashion brand and to promotional apparel explain how brands build recognition online and offline, from magazine coverage to logo-printed clothing.
The remaining terms describe the clothes and the people who wear them. A peplum is a flared overskirt or ruffle attached at the waistline, with roots in the Greek peplos. A placket is the reinforced opening that holds buttons, snaps or a zipper at a neck, cuff, waist or fly. Pocket squares are the small silk, cotton or linen squares folded into a jacket breast pocket purely as a style statement. Petites are proportioned for women 5'4" and under, and plus size clothing is proportioned larger than standard ranges — both are fit categories, not simply scaled sizes. Prêt-à-porter is ready-to-wear: high-quality garments bought off the rack rather than made to measure. Preppy fashion draws on Ivy League and prep-school dress, while punk fashion and its anarcho-punk and Celtic punk branches, covered in the Punk Fashion section, take the opposite, rebellious direction. Performance fabrics add waterproofing, stain protection, odor control or temperature regulation to textiles; pleather substitutes plastic-based artificial leather for hide; pilling is the small fiber balls that abrasion raises on a fabric surface; PPE is protective clothing and equipment, from masks and gloves to steel-toe boots; and the psychology of fashion studies why people wear what they wear. Passion for fashion, finally, is the enthusiasm that keeps the whole industry — and its most devoted shoppers — going.
The P section covers packaging, passion for fashion, pattern making, peplum, performance fabrics, personal shopper, petites, piece goods inspection, pilling, plackets, pleather, plus size, pocket squares, pop-up retail, PPE, pre-Black Friday sales, pre-production submissions, preppy fashion, prêt-à-porter, price tags, printed labels, private label, product development, the production department, promoting fashion brands, promotional apparel, the psychology of fashion and two punk fashion styles — each reachable from the term list on this page.
Every P 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.