Fashion abbreviations you should know.
Over the past seven years in the fashion industry, i’ve learnt a lot of terminology that is specific to the industry and that you will come across at some point on your journey. I’ve compiled a list of some of the most useful ones I think you should know when dealing with manufacturers, wholesale retailers, shipping and logistics, warehouses, etc.
AOP - All Over Print : Used on tech packs
AW / A/W - Autumn/Winter - Used to signify collections. in USA, this is usually FW - Fall/Winter.
B2B - Business To Business : A wholesale sale from yourself to another business, rather than to an end consumer.
B2C - Business To Consumer : Sales to an end consumer/customer such as sales made on your e-commerce website, rather than to another business such as a retailer.
CAD - Computer Aided Design : A drawing typically of a garment for a design or a tech pack that is made digitally on the computer.
CB - Centre Back : Used to signify the centre of a garment at the back in a tech pack
CF - Centre Front : Used to signify the centre of a garment at the front in a tech pack
CMT - Cut Make Trim : Some smaller factories may only work on a CMT basis which means they will cut the fabric for you and sew the garment together, but you will have to source and buy the fabric yourself first, dye it if required, organise any printing/embroidery at a third party, provide them with all of the trims, labels, packaging etc.
CNY - Chinese New Year
COO - Country of Origin : his is where the product was made and is typically required to be stated on the care label in a garment and also on commercial invoices for shipments.
CP - Critical Path : Used in manufacturing to outline the steps of the production process with dates at which stage each part is due to complete.
DDP - Delivered Duties Paid : This is an INCO Term specifying a shipping method and is usually used for sales to B2C or B2B customers. This means that you will ship the goods to the customer/client and you will cover the import duties into their country so they will not need to pay any additional fees to import the products in. This is used more commonly now e.g. when shipping from the UK to Europe or USA where for Wholesale or Ecommerce sales you want to reassure the customers that they won’t need to pay any import duties or shipping fees, the price being charged includes all of this.
DTM - Dyed to Match : Seen in tech packs meaning e.g. Herringbone Tape DTM means that the herringbone tape of the garment must match the colour of the garment.
EAN - European Article Number : The standard barcode system in the UK, Europe and anywhere outside the USA (Which use UPC). It is 13 digits long and is a type of GTIN.
EOD - End of Day
ETA - Estimated time of Arrival
ETC - Estimated time of Completion
ETD - Estimated time of Delivery
EXF - Ex Factory : The date when a product is due to be completed in manufacture and ready to be shipped from the factory.
EXW - Ex Works : This is an INCO Term and you will primarily come across this when discussing delivery terms with either shipping companies, manufacturers or retailers on how you are selling your goods. This typically means that you are accepting the goods from the manufacturer from their factory and it’s up to you to organise the whole shipping and insurance process from their factory to where you need the goods to go. Likewise for wholesale sales to retailers, this means you are selling them goods for them to collect from your warehouse and you are not liable for any shipping.
FF/FFP - Fully Factored Production : This is the opposite to CMT production, where the manufacturer takes care of the whole manufacturing process including sourcing all fabrics, trims etc. and the price you are given is for a fully manufactured garment.
FOB - Free on Board : This is an INCO Term and means that the relevant party will be in charge of getting the goods to a specific port e.g. FOB Hong Kong and then you will be in charge of shipping, insurance and duties from the port to the destination.
FW / F/W - Fall/Winter - Used to signify collections. in the UK, this is usually AW - Autumn/Winter.
GG - Gauge : Used in knitwear to refer to the number of stitches per row and how tightly they are knitted
GSM - Grams per Square Meter : This is used to measure the weight of a fabric e.g. a heavyweight hoodie fabric will be 500gsm, whereas a cheaper lightweight hoodie fabric can be 250gsm.
GTIN - Global Trade Item Number : The unique identifier of a product, i.e. its barcode. It can be either an 12-digit UPC (used in USA) or 13-digit EAN (used everywhere else in the world).
HSP - Highest Shoulder Point : Used when measuring garments, refers to the point at the top of your shoulder where it meets the neck.
HS Code - Harmonised System : The commodity code used to identify specific product internationally for customs purposes to be able to identify the item correctly and charge the applicable taxes on the product. These are 6 Digits. For the USA, HTS Codes are required which are 10 digits and contain the HS code as the first 6 digits and then an additional 4 digits. An 8 digit code is an Intrastate Code.
HTS Code - Harmonised Tariff Schedule : The commodity code used to identify specific product in the USA for customs purposes to be able to identify the item correctly and charge the applicable taxes on the product. HTS Codes are used by USA. They are 10 Digits and the first 6 digits are the same as the HS Code of an item.
Intrastat Code - Harmonised Tariff Schedule : The commodity code used to identify specific product globally for customs purposes to be able to identify the item correctly and charge the applicable taxes on the product. They are 8 Digits and the first 6 digits are the same as the HS Code of an item.
MOQ - Minimum Order Quantity : Typically when dealing with factories, they all have MOQ’s that they work with and it’s in essence the minimum number of units you can order per style. This can be as low as 10’s with smaller factories and go into the 10,000’s with the higher volume factories. Typically this is around the 150-300 mark.
OTB - Open To Buy : This is a wholesale term that is the amount of budget a buyer has available to spend for additional orders e.g. for replenishing stock, trialling new brands etc. Each season a buyer will have a budget to buy within and once they have made their buys of planned merchandise, the amount left over becomes the OTB amount.
PO - Purchase Order : These are usually raised or issued and are commercial documents issued either by a brand to a manufacturer and also from a retailer to a brand purchasing stock indicating types, quantities, prices and terms of an order.
PP/PPS - Pre-Production Sample : This is the final sample you will receive before you approve your products to go into manufacturing in bulk. It will at this stage be an accurate representation of the final product in all aspects including final trims, fabrics, measurements and details.
QTY/QTTY - Quantity
RRP - Recommended Retail Price : This is the retail price you recommend wholesale stores to sell your products at and is usually in line with your e-commerce sales price of your products.
RTV - Return to Vendor : Unwanted or Damaged merchandise that a retailer may request to return to you for a refund or exchange.
RTW - Ready to Wear : The commercial range of products from a designer
SKU - Stock Keeping Unit : This is the unique identifier of each product and size so that every single item has its unique code that is used throughout alongside its unique barcode,such as on e-commerce, warehousing, manufacture, sales etc. An example of this is for example an OTB SKU for one of our hoodies in an XL size is “OTB-H1274/L”
SMS - Salesman Sample : Samples of your products that you give to your salesmen/agents to be offer to showcase to clients.
SMU - Special Make Up : Retailers can request this from you or you can offer this in the negotiation process. This is when a limited edition product is offered exclusively to a retailer, whether that is a colour way exclusive to them, or a completely unique design that you make for that retailer exclusively. When there is a lot of competition and multiple retailers selling your products, this is a good negotiation method to offer this as this gives them an advantage over competitors having a unique product that customers can only buy from them.
TP - Tech Pack : This is what is sent to factories as the instructions on how to create the garment you have designed including all technical drawings, artworks, measurements and trims.
UPC - Universal Product Code : The standard barcode system in the USA (The rest of the world uses EAN). It is 12 digits long and is a type of GTIN.
WSP - Wholesale Price : The price at which you sell your products to retailers with a wholesale discount