Garment industry
The global sector that turns fabric and other materials into clothing through design, sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution.
Apparel supply chain: The network of organizations and processes that supplies materials, makes apparel, and delivers it to buyers. Garment production sits within this wider chain of sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution.
Fast fashion: A retail model that rapidly turns current styles into inexpensive clothing in frequent product cycles. It exemplifies high-speed, high-volume garment production tied to changing trends.
Sweatshop: A workplace with poor conditions, low pay, or excessive hours, often in labor-intensive manufacturing. The term is closely associated with abuses documented in garment supply chains.
Made-to-measure: Clothing produced from a standard design adjusted to an individual customer’s measurements. It contrasts individualized fit with standardized mass production.
Supply chain transparency: The disclosure of information about the origins, suppliers, and production stages of goods. Disclosure can reveal where and under what conditions garments are made.
Garment manufacturing: The industrial production of clothing through fabric cutting, sewing, finishing, and quality checks. It is the factory-stage core of the garment industry.
Haute couture: Custom-fitted, hand-crafted fashion produced by officially recognized couture houses in Paris. It contrasts factory-scale output with labor-intensive bespoke garment making.
Rana Plaza collapse: The 2013 collapse of a garment-factory building in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people. The disaster exposed lethal building and oversight failures in apparel production.
Bespoke tailoring: Custom clothing drafted and made for one client through individual fittings. It offers a labor-intensive alternative to factory-made garments.
Living wage: Pay sufficient for a worker and their household to afford a decent standard of living. Whether garment workers receive living wages remains contested across sourcing regions.