apparel chain
- noun
- /əˈpɛrəl tʃeɪn/
- Many shoppers prefer the apparel chain because of its affordable prices and stylish designs.
Examples
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At least one national apparel chain is involved, one of these people said.
Blog text (18) -
Be it a mid-tier department store, one discounter, or a teenage apparel chain, all have done well.
Blog text (15) -
End, a buyer-driven apparel chain, would miss the transformations in agrarian work relations in the cotton fields of South India.
Academic text (2004) -
The upscale apparel chain has launched a new collection that is attracting a lot of attention.
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After a successful year, the apparel chain announced plans to open five more stores across the country.
Synonyms
A group of shops or restaurants owned by the same company
A group of stores owned or run by the same company that sell similar goods
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a company operating a group of retail stores that sell clothing' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'apparel' (garments/clothing) + 'chain' (a business operating multiple similar outlets). This noun-noun compounding is a common, transparent construction cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should comprehend the MWE.
Etymology
Apparel chain comes from a simple picture: apparel means clothing and chain suggests many shops linked together like metal links. That's why it now means 'a company that runs a group of clothing stores'.