Historical Dictionary of the fashion industry

READYTOWEAR

Ready-to-wear: translation

(RTW)
This is the term given to clothing that, unlikemade-to-measure, is designed either for commissioned consumption (as in uniforms) or speculative sale at theretaillevel. When pertaining to retail consumption, another common term is "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg." Evidence of speculative production can be traced as far back as ancient Babylonia.Guildsin the Middle Ages and during theRenaissancetried to restrictmass productionbut, by the late 1600s, their power ebbed.Records of preindustrial commissioned consumption exist throughout England, France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, with one of the earliest being the British Navy's commission of uniforms in 1666. As preindustrial international trade flourished during the 1700s, merchant houses traded ready-made clothing between the United States, China, and Europe. The American Civil War provided statistics for men's sizing and the invention of the tape measure (1820) helped instandardizing sizingmeasurements. However, the invention of thesewing machinebyElias Howe(1846) and the electric sewing machine byIsaac Singer(1889) not only made mass production possible but provided unskilled workers with the chance to work in a factory production line, sewing a piece of the garment (known as piecework) rather than the whole garment, which required much more skill intailoringand/ordressmaking.
By the end of the nineteenth century, New York City was the hub of ready-to-wear in the United States, especially fueled by the number ofdepartment storesand mail-ordercatalogsthat sprung up in the mid-1800s. After World War II, the Europeanhaute couturehousesChristian Dior,Hubert de Givenchy, andJacques Fathrecognized that ready-to-wear was the future of the industry. Rather than continue being copied, they signed lucrativelicensingdeals with Americanmanufacturersto produce less expensive lines. Otherdesignersfollowed suit and the first prêt-à-porter show was held in Paris in 1973. Designer's ready-to-wear collections bring a much bigger return on investment than their couture collections. Most companies that manufacture ready-to-wear present their collections twice a year duringfashion week, namely, in February, they show their Fall merchandise and, in September, they show their Spring merchandise. Couture is shown in January for Fall collections and July for Spring.

  1. readytowear—readytowear translation adj. Readytowearstrong is used with these nouns collection...Collocations dictionary
  2. readytowear—readytowear translation readytowear UKu USu adjectiveu used to describe clothes that are produced in standard sizes and not ones that are made to fit a particular perso...Financial and business terms
  3. readytowear—readytowear translationSynonyms and related wordsassembled bespoke built cast constructed crafted created custom custombuilt custommade cutanddried cutanddry extracted fa...Moby Thesaurus
  4. readytowear—[redtw]готовыйизбитый неоригинальный...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  5. readytowear—readytowear [redtwe] readymade...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  6. readytowear—readymade...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  7. readytowear—готовое изделие готовый...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  8. readytowear—амер. readymade...Англо-украинский словарь
  9. readytowear—ладний готовий...Англо-український словник
  10. readytowear—adj готовий про одяг....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  11. readytowear—readytoweargt готовый об одежде...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  12. readytowear—[redtwe] aготовый об одежде...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  13. readytowear—readytowear [redtwe] ai готовый об одеждеi...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  14. readytowear—redtwe a готовый об одеждеem...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна