From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishapparelap‧par‧el /əˈpærəl/ noun [uncountable] formalCLOTHES clothes She looked lovely, despite her strange apparel. men wearing protective apparel We sell a full range of sports apparel.
Examples from the Corpus
apparel• an athletic shoe and apparel company• The slowdown will result partly from sluggishness in nondurable sectors such as apparel and textiles.• They draw stipends from the national federation and most players have apparel contracts.• Sears Roebuck bucked the largely bleak holiday sales trend, reporting significant increases in apparel sales.• More often apparel is grouped by color.• children's apparel• Department stores, apparel and accessory stores lost jobs during the October-December period.• This has led to some repatriation of the apparel industry from the Third World back to the First.• And while they looked steadfastly at heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel.From Longman Business Dictionaryapparelap‧par‧el /əˈpærəl/ noun [uncountable] formal clothesThe apparel industry continues to suffer as retailers report weak clothing sales.Origin apparel (1200-1300) Old French apareil “preparation”, from apareillier, from Latin apparare; → APPARATUS