rag trade
1
4.9
- noun
- /ræɡ treɪd/
- UK
:
industria de la moda
- The rag trade has seen significant changes with the rise of online shopping and fast fashion brands.
Examples
-
There was a certain amount of envy in the rag trade, and right now she knew she was the girl of the moment.
Fiction book (1994) -
Let's get out of this rag trade and take a hike.
-
The, the whole thing was odd because he, he'd made an awful lot of money in the, in the rag trade clothes.
-
In that case, he would not have seemed that important to Betty, who, as a model, would have been in contact with people in the "rag trade" all the time.
Blog text (25) -
The designer made a name for herself in the rag trade by creating stunning collections that captivated fashion lovers.
-
He spent many years working in the rag trade, learning the ins and outs of clothing production and fashion marketing.
Synonyms
13
3.2
Businesses that design, make, and sell clothing and accessories
4
3.3
The industry that designs, makes, and sells clothes and accessories
3
3.1
A business that makes and sells clothes, often for fashion
1
3.2
A business that designs, makes and sells clothes
Surface Forms
Morphology
rag + trade
The constituents 'rag' (cloth/old clothing) and 'trade' (business) do suggest a business dealing with clothes, so a learner can partially infer the general domain. However, the specific idiomatic sense 'the clothing/fashion industry' and the British informal nuance of 'rag trade' are not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Rag trade likely comes from small workshop rooms full of cloth scraps. The word rag means a piece of cloth and trade means business, so the picture of people working with rags became a name for the whole 'clothing and fashion industry'.