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 “V”. The V terms run from a neckline (the V-neck shirt) and a retail format (value retailing) through sneaker collecting and a hanger standard (VICS hangers), to vintage fashion and footwear, viral marketing, and Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania collection.
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 "V".
The eight V entries fall into a few clear families. The garment term is the V-neck shirt, named for the V-shaped opening at its neck and introduced so an undershirt's neckline would not show above an outer shirt. Value retailing covers the selling side: Family Dollar, Dollar General and clothing outlet stores are presented as retailers built on low prices, edited assortments and low overhead, with pointers to outlet stores, mass merchants and discount clothing stores.
A second family is about collecting and condition. Very rare collectible sneakers lists limited and scarce releases — Eminem and Jeter Air Jordans, the Nike Air Mag and its auto-lacing 2016 version, Paris and FLOM Dunks and designer high-tops — and points readers to release dates and launch calendars. Vintage fashion and vintage footwear work through what “vintage” means: a term borrowed from wine, applied to clothing of another era, with antique for pre-1920s pieces and retro for revived styles, and with the practical appeal of unique, limited surviving stock.
The remaining entries cover industry practice. VICS hangers explains the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association, its floor-ready merchandise guidelines for hanger application and price marking, and its list of approved hanger suppliers for garment-on-hanger programs. Viral marketing explains marketing that spreads person to person like word of mouth — through social networks, video platforms, gadgets, widgets and feeds — and why a fashion message can take on a life its originator cannot control. Vivienne Westwood Anglomania profiles Westwood's collection: punk roots at 430 King's Road, a homage since 1993 to 1970s London, British heritage and 18th-century France, in tartans, draped metallic dresses and pirate-style jackets.
Start with the term list directly under the introduction — those links are the whole V section, each exactly one click away. 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 V section covers V-neck shirts, value retailing and value retailers, very rare collectible sneakers, VICS hangers, vintage fashion, vintage footwear, viral marketing for the fashion industry and Vivienne Westwood Anglomania — each reachable from the term list on this page.
Every V 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.