Grazia's Lucy Morris has all the answers
We take it as a given that Zara’s younger, sparkier line is called TRF. But, have you ever stopped and thought for a second, ‘what does it stand for?’ Well, we have. And after hours of Googling, we (sort of) found out. TRF is home to Zara’s more trend-savvy pieces – think Vetements-esque tracksuits and oversized denim. Always situated in the back of the shop, its range is targeted towards 13-25-year-old women and is the place to find graphic tops and casual dresses. You’ll never find it on the mannequins in the windows, but it’s a mainstay of the store. The name is an abbreviation of ‘trafaluc’, which after extensive research we can safely say is a made-up word. It’s marketing speak and nothing more. As Zara is a Spanish brand we spent a good portion of our day looking through dictionaries and on Google Translate but we've come up empty. We assumed it was a Spanish word, but, we checked in with a mate who’s fluent, and that’s not the case. In fact, Zara told us: 'TRF stands for Trafaluc which is one of the four main departments of the Zara ladieswear collection, the TRF section is aimed more towards the younger customer rather than the WOMAN or STUDIO collections which are a bit more classic in style. I have enquired with my Spanish colleagues and have been told that Trafaluc doesn’t actually mean anything, it is just a name as is Bershka for example.' It wouldn’t be the first or the last time a brand has created a catchy-sounding word to name a product. Some labels, like Nike, which is taken from the ancient Greek goddess of victory’s name, or Hyundai, which means ‘modernity’ in Korean, have meaning behind their monikers others are just catchy. For instance, Häagen-Dazs, which was founded by a Polish Jewish immigrant Rueben Mattus revealed, ‘the only country which saved the Jews during World War II was Denmark, so I put together a totally fictitious Danish name and had it registered,' He told Tablet Magazine, ‘Häagen-Dazs doesn’t mean anything. [But] it would attract attention, especially with the umlaut.’ On that note, their’s no cute backstory to yoga label Lululemon's title either. In 2009 the founder wrote: ‘It was thought that a Japanese marketing firm would not try to create a North American sounding brand with the letter 'L' because the sound does not exist in Japanese phonetics. By including an 'L' in the name it was thought the Japanese consumer would find the name innately North American and authentic. In essence, the name 'lululemon' has no roots and means nothing other than it has 3 'L's' in it. Nothing more and nothing less’. And, we're assuming the same can be said for TRF.SHOP: The Best TRF Pieces To Shop Now
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Zara, Polka Dot Skirt, £25.99
www.zara.com
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.
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