French for ready-to-wear: clothing made in standard sizes and offered ready for purchase.
Prêt-à-porter, literally “ready to wear”, is clothing made in series, of superior quality and generally designed by a fashion designer, in the CNRTL dictionary’s definition. It is the French name for ready-to-wear, and English listings use the English term, sometimes abbreviated to RTW.
The line that matters is with haute couture. The French Ministry of Culture’s inventory distinguishes haute couture, unique pieces made entirely to measure in ateliers in France, from luxury prêt-à-porter, which is made in industrial series. The ateliers’ division into flou, for soft garments, and tailleur, for structured ones, exists in ready-to-wear too. In Paris, ready-to-wear collections are shown during Paris Fashion Week, whose calendar the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode publishes.
In job listings
Ready-to-wear names whole departments in luxury listings: design, product development, product engineering, buying and boutique advisors for women’s or men’s ready-to-wear, and show development for the runway collection. The French term seldom appears in English titles. See current ready-to-wear roles.
