Deciphering Fashion Design Categories: Haute Couture vs. Designer vs. RTW vs. Fast Fashion

The fashion and textile industry is a powerful and complex one full of layers and tons of moving pieces. From a design perspective, there’s a lot that goes into creating pieces, looks, designs, and colors for each season. As a consumer, we often see things for what they are: clothes and price tags. Behind the scenes, there’s so much more happening to calculate and create these garments. This post is curated to provide the must-know info about some of the main types of fashion categories, including what they are and how they work.

Celebrities, models, and people of high fashion prestige are typically the point of selection for haute couture. These garments are made-to-order by designers (typically called artisans) with superior drawing and sewing skills, as well as in-depth creativity to make one-of-a-kind clothing pieces for their clients. High-quality materials are used throughout the custom garments. Haute couture is modeled down the runway for exclusive clientele that can afford to have these types of pieces handcrafted just for them. Haute couture garments take months to complete and require several fittings to ensure that the clients’ needs are met.

Designer pieces are considered occasion-specific fashion pieces meant to be worn for very special occasions and events. Designer products are made by well-known designer brands, which typically come to rise because of their excellent quality, creativity, and skills to produce high-end clothing. Designer brands create clothing that changes seasonally and follows current fashion trends. Designer items often refer to the 2nd highest tier of clothing within the ranking of fashion pricing.

Apparel prices ranges are categorized into the following groups from least to most expensive:

• Discount
• Budget
• Moderate
• Contemporary
• Better
• Bridge
• Designer
• Haute Couture

RTW clothing is made by top designers and worn down the runway. Each year, designers make lines for the RTW fashion segment. The lines produced for the runway are more high-fashion than clothing seen in the malls, with more realistic designs and construction quality than garments modeled at haute couture runway shows. This type of clothing is made for the runway by designers and then sold by brick and mortar boutiques, online boutiques, and high-end department stores. Ready-to-wear refers to designs that are made to fit most body types without having to perform major alterations and adjustments. Some designers create both RTW collections and couture lines.

This category is one of the most controversial, as it produces the most selection and waste. Fast fashion is described as trendy clothing that is constantly being refreshed with new pieces to stay up-to-date with trends as they arise. It’s very affordable clothing that resembles high-end designers’ concepts at much more attainable prices and a wider variety of places to purchase. Fast fashion is typically made overseas, where labor is cheaper. Fast fashion companies normally stock a limited amount of a style to make room for new styles that arrive a short amount of time later. 

Fashion price points and designs are important to understand because the design price points often affect our buying design decisions. In a nutshell, quality one-of-a-kind pieces start at the top of the charts, and cheaper designs are found at the bottom. Luckily, if you’re designing pieces, you can set the standard for the fabric, trims, and notions that you use, and our online school of sewing can help you to achieve those designer skills without breaking the bank.

What are your thoughts on a revamp of fast fashion, and do you think the industry will be headed in a more sustainable direction at an accelerated speed caused by the current pandemic?

Drop your comments below!