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 “X”. X is the shortest letter in this directory: English fashion vocabulary has almost no everyday words that start with X, so there is no long list of X term pages. The letter still does real work in apparel — above all in size codes such as XS and XL, and in construction and shape terms such as X-back and the X silhouette, which are explained on this page.
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 "X".
XS — Extra Small. The smallest standard size code in most adult ranges, one step below S (small). In a typical letter-size run — XS, S, M, L, XL — XS marks the lower end just as XL marks the upper end, and the X in both codes is simply short for “extra”.
XL — Extra Large, and 2XL, 3XL. XL is the first size above L (large). Larger sizes repeat or number the X: XXL and 2XL both mean extra extra large, XXXL and 3XL mean one step beyond that, and the sequence continues as 4XL and 5XL in ranges cut for larger bodies. Numbered and repeated-X spellings mean the same size, so a shopper who wears 2XL in one brand should look for XXL in another — and then confirm with the brand's own measurement chart, because letter codes carry no fixed measurements of their own.
X-Back. A back construction in which two straps, bands or panels cross each other so they form the letter X. X-back straps appear on swimwear, sports bras, athletic tops, dresses and aprons: crossing the straps moves support toward the center of the back, keeps shoulder straps from slipping, and leaves the shoulder blades freer to move than a straight strap on each side.
X Silhouette. A garment shape fitted at the waist and fuller above and below it, so the outline of the dressed figure reads as an X — also described as an hourglass silhouette. Full skirts worn with a nipped-in waist are the classic example. The X silhouette is one of a small family of letter-named fashion shapes, alongside the A-line, which widens from the shoulders or waist to the hem, and the H-line, which falls straight without waist emphasis.
X-Stitch. A stitch that crosses itself to form an X, best known as the working unit of cross-stitch embroidery, where a design is built from hundreds of small X-shaped stitches on an even-weave ground. Single X-stitches also show up in visible mending, decorative topstitching and the tacking that holds vents, pleats and labels in place.
Most letters in this directory gather dozens of terms because fashion borrows its vocabulary from garment names, fabrics, construction and trade practice, and English words for those subjects cluster heavily under letters such as C, S and P. X begins almost none of them. The X words that do exist in the wider language tend to be scientific or technical coinages rather than names for garments, cloth or making processes, and they never crossed into everyday apparel use. Rather than pad this page with terms nobody in the industry uses, this directory keeps X honest: one hub page that explains the places the letter genuinely appears — size codes, crossed-strap construction, a letter-named silhouette and a crossed stitch — and clear routes onward to every other letter.
Start with the letter list below — every other letter directory is one click away, and most terms a reader is likely to want live under their first letter: sizing under S, labels and care terms under their own names, and fabrics, garments and trade terms throughout the alphabet. Readers looking for a topic rather than a spelling 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 list.
Fashion vocabulary beginning with X is unusually short, and this directory has no separate X term pages. The X terms that matter most in apparel are the sizing codes built on X — XS for extra small and XL, 2XL and larger codes for extra large sizes — plus construction and shape terms such as X-back straps and the X silhouette, all explained on this page.
XS means extra small and XL means extra large. A number before the X multiplies the “extra”: 2XL, also written XXL, is extra extra large, one size above XL, and 3XL or XXXL is one size above that. The codes are labels, not measurements, so the actual chest, waist and length figures still vary by brand and garment.
Use the Fashion Terms by Letter list on this page to jump to the letter the term starts with, or use Fashion Terms by Category to browse by subject instead of by spelling. Terms that start with a number, such as 3D printing terms, have their own number directory page, also linked from the letter list.