Fashion Industry Lingo You Need To Know:

A glossary of useful acronyms and terms for a successful fashion career.

By Emma Golley

06.03.2021

Have you ever sat in a meeting nodding and smiling, pretending you know what abbreviations like OTB and MOQ means? Or left feeling confused after reading an email from a factory full of fashion jargon? Whatever stage you’re at in your career, the answer is probably yes!

Fashion lingo isn’t often taught at University/College, it’s something you learn on the job. Some of you may feel reluctant to ask a colleague, with the fear of looking inadequate-trust me we’ve all been through that. To help create more transparency within the industry, we collated some of the stand out fashion abbreviations and acronyms you need to know (along with some of their meanings) to help give you the confidence to succeed in your fashion career.

Want to add to our list? Don’t hesitate to have your input in the comment box below the article!

Design & Technical

CAD- Computer Aided Design

TP- Tech Pack: A Tech Pack is a document that contains all the technical information about your product. They can vary in appearance, content and detail but generally they should include detailed flat sketches, specs/measurements, sizes, wash & print, fabric details and weights, fastenings and care label and tag information.

Spec-Specification Sheet: A garment specification sheet is a technical document that contains the construction details of the product, a technical diagram/ sketch of the garment, measurements of the product.

DTM-Dyed To Match

LD-Lab Dip: A lab dip is when a dye house or the factory itself dye a few swatches of your chosen fabric in the colors you requested (can be pantone or dyed to match) to figure out the correct formula to match your colors. They normally send the swatches to you for comments and approval. Once decided on, these will be your color standards for your collection.

S/O-Strike off: A fabric sample either printed, dyed or embroidered to your specifications/design so you can assess and check if it has turned out the way you had expected before being printed/embroidered onto the garment itself. Things to look out for- color matching, scale, technique, vibrancy, dye reaction to fabric.

AOP- All Over Print

BOM-Bill of Materials: This master list is part of your tech pack and should list every component that makes up your product- including fabrics, trim, fastenings, wash and print.

POM-Point Of Measure: Usually measured on the flat, this is a specific point/area that you are measuring on your product.

HPS-High Point Shoulder: This is the highest point of the shoulder when the garment is laid flat (this does not include the collar)

CF- Centre Front

CB- Centre Back

BND-Back Neck Drop

BNL-Back Neck Label

USP- Unique Selling Point

MOQ- Minimum Order Quantity: The fewest number of units required for an order/purchase. Manufacturers often have an MOQ for the amount of production samples required to work with a brand, eg some may only work with a brand if they are willing to order an MOQ of 1000 units per style. An MOQ is also used with fabric, trim and fastening orders.

CMT-Cut, Make, Trim

SKU- Stock Keeping Unit: A code used for different products to identify specific information such as color, style, brand, gender & size. Often in a fashion office you may be asked how many SKU’s an item has. This could mean the same item is available in several different colors and prints.

Y/D- Yarn Dye

GG-Knitwear Gauge: The number of knit stitches per finished inch

GSM-Grams Per Square Metre: The metric measurement used to measure the weight of fabric, directionally proportional the the thickness of the fabric.

K/D- Knit Down-Similar to a strike off, a knit down is a sample of a knit fabric pattern used for color and pattern approval before production. Mostly used for sweaters.

CS-Cover Stitch

LS-Lock Stitch or Long Sleeve (can mean either)

RPT-Repeat

Production

QC- Quality Control

WIP-Work In Progress/process

SY-Sample Yardage

PROTO- Prototype: After sending your tech pack, this is usually the first sample you’ll receive, often known as the 1st fit sample.

PP or PPS-Pre Production sample: This is the sample you’ll see before bulk manufacturing starts. The sample should be in the correct fabric, print & wash with the correct stitching, trims and fastenings. This is the last chance to comment and make changes before production.

TOP-Top Of Production: These are a set of samples that are taken off the production line during your first production run. This is the final sample stage you’ll get to see before it reaches your customers. This is your chance to inspect the final quality and make sure the manufacturer is following everything you have asked for previously.

SMS-Salesman sample: These samples are your final samples before size grading occurs. They’re used to send out to sales reps to take pre-orders, trade shows, show rooms, retailers and wholesale accounts.

FTY- Factory

FPT-Fabric Performance Test

CPL-Cut Panel Laundry: A process used in knit garment manufacturing to prevent shrinkage and garment twisting.

GPT-Garment Performance Test

QTY- Quantity

FW-Full Width

FPP-Full Package Production: The clothing manufacturer takes care of all aspects of production including design, grading, pattern creation, fabric and trims sourcing etc.

COO-Country Of Origin

WH-Warehouse

XFD- Ex Factory Date

Business

B2B-Business To Business: The exchange of goods takes place between two or more businesses.

B2C-Business To Customer: The exchange of goods takes place between a business and a customer.

Normally the journey looks like this: Manufacturer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Customer

D2C-Direct To Consumer: D2C businesses don’t use a wholesaler or retail store to manage their products, they manage the end to end process from manufacturing to shipping.

Normally the journey looks like this: Manufacturer-Customer

PL-Private Label: A manufacturer develops styles with no labelling so customers can purchase units and add their own label and branding.

KPI-Key Performance Index

CNY-Chinese New Year

Delivery

FOB- Free On Board or Freight On Board: This indicates whether the seller or the buyer is liable if any goods are damaged when shipping. It also determines who is responsible for payment at which stage of the products journey from the area/country it was shipped from, to its final destination.

CIF-Cost Insurance and Freight

FCA- Free Carrier

DDP- Delivery Duty Paid

LDP- Landed Duty Paid

AWB- Airway Bill

TOD- Time of delivery

Sales/Buying/Merch

CP- Cost Price

GP-Gross Profit: The financial gain of a company after deducting the costs necessary to create produce and deliver the product.

GM-Gross Margin: Gross margin is expressed as a percentage. Basically it is the difference between revenue and the cost to make the goods sold.

Gross Margin=Net Sales-Cost of goods sold

ROI- Return On Investment

VAT-Value Added Tax

OTB-Open To Buy: This shows the buyer how much inventory is needed and how much is still available.

OOS-Out Of Stock

PO-Purchase Order: A document issued by a buyer to a seller indicating the chosen items, their quantities and agreed prices.

General Office Jargon

EOD- End of day

W/C- Week Commencing

ASAP-As Soon As Possible

ETA-Estimated Time Of Arrival

TBA-To Be Advised

TBC-To Be Confirmed

TBD-To Be Determined (this one is more common in the USA)

OOO- Out of office!

By Emma Golley, Founder of Fashion and the Free

I hope this serves as a useful resource for you no matter where you’re at in your career! If you are in need of guidance/consulting whether it be for your career or for your brand, check out my full services via my freelance website.

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