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 “Z”. Z is the last and one of the shortest letters in this directory: everyday fashion vocabulary has only a handful of words that start with Z, so there is no long list of Z term pages. The letter still does important work in apparel — above all the zipper, the closure that changed how clothing opens and closes — along with the zigzag stitch, zebra print, two named fabrics and the zori sandal, all 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 "Z".
Zipper — the Zip Fastener. The zipper is a closure made of two parallel rows of teeth, or of a continuous coil, mounted on fabric tapes. A slider drawn along the rows meshes them together to close the opening and separates them to open it, and metal or plastic stops keep the slider from running off the ends. Zippers are described by how they end: a closed-end zipper stays joined at one end, as on a bag or a fly, while a separating zipper comes fully apart, as on a jacket front; a two-way slider opens from either end. Few inventions changed clothing more: once unreliable novelties in the early twentieth century, zippers replaced rows of buttons and hooks on dresses, trousers, boots, luggage and sportswear because one pull closes a garment evenly and securely.
Zip-Front and Zip-Up. These product words name garments by their closure rather than by their cut. A zip-front dress, jacket or top closes with a zipper down the front instead of buttons, and a zip-up is usually a jacket, fleece, hoodie or boot pulled on and closed the same way. The wording matters to shoppers because the closure changes how a garment is worn: a separating front zipper lets a jacket be worn fully open, half open from either end with a two-way slider, or closed to the neck, and it changes repair as well, since a failed front zipper normally needs a full replacement rather than a single new button.
Zigzag Stitch. A sewing-machine stitch that moves from side to side as it advances, so the thread forms a repeated V pattern instead of a straight line. The zigzag is the home and factory sewer's general-purpose problem solver: it finishes raw seam edges so woven fabric frays less, it sews appliqué down around its outline, it attaches elastic, and — because the angled thread can give a little — a narrow zigzag sews stretch and knit fabrics where a rigid straight stitch would pop. Stitch width and length are set separately, so the same stitch ranges from a narrow edging to a wide decorative effect.
Zebra Print. An animal print that copies the black-and-white striping of a zebra's coat. Unlike a leopard spot, which repeats as a rosette, a zebra stripe is irregular and flowing, widening, narrowing and forking as it crosses a garment, so large pieces show the pattern best and matched seams are difficult by design. Zebra print appears in true black and white and in dyed color versions, on everything from coats and dresses to bags and shoes, and it belongs to the wider animal-print family alongside leopard, snake and cow prints.
Zibeline. A heavy, soft fabric with a long, glossy nap that is brushed to lie in one direction, giving the surface a hair-like sheen. The name comes from the sable — zibeline is the French word for sable — whose fur the cloth was made to imitate. Woven most often from wool, sometimes with other fibers worked in for the lustrous pile, zibeline is used for winter coats and jackets where warmth and a polished, light-catching surface are both wanted.
Zephyr. A name used for light, fine goods: zephyr cloth is a lightweight plain-weave cotton, often woven as a fine gingham check, and zephyr yarn is a soft, fine yarn of the kind used for light knitted garments and baby clothes. In both uses the word carries its older sense — a soft, gentle breeze — and marks the goods as the light end of their range.
Zori. Flat Japanese sandals with a thong strap that passes between the toes, worn with kimono and other traditional dress. Everyday zori have soles of straw, leather, cloth or modern synthetic material, and more formal pairs are distinguished by the material and finish of the sole and strap. The zori's flat sole and toe thong are the direct ancestors of the modern flip-flop, which spread worldwide after the Second World War on the same simple pattern.
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. Z begins very few of them, and several of its genuine fashion words are borrowings — zori from Japanese, zibeline from French — or coinages built around a single fastener. Rather than pad this page with terms nobody in the industry uses, this directory keeps Z honest: one hub page that explains the places the letter genuinely appears — the zipper family of closures, a machine stitch, a stripe print, two named fabrics and a sandal — and clear routes onward to every other letter.
Start with the letter list on this page — every other letter directory is one click away, and most terms a reader is likely to want live under their first letter: closures and fasteners under their own names, fabrics throughout the alphabet, and garments, construction and trade terms under theirs. 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 Z is short, and this directory has no separate Z term pages. The Z terms that matter most in apparel are the zipper and the zip-front and zip-up garments it closes, the zigzag stitch used to finish seams and sew stretch fabrics, zebra print, the zibeline and zephyr fabrics, and zori, the flat Japanese thong sandals — all explained on this page.
A zipper is the fastener itself: two rows of teeth or coils that a slider meshes together or pulls apart, finished with stops at the ends. A zip-front or zip-up garment — a jacket, dress, boot or bag — is simply a product closed by that fastener, and a separating zipper, whose two sides come fully apart at the bottom, is the type used on garments that open completely.
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.