In the strictest sense a clothes rail is a horizontal bar onto which clothes are hung. However, in the world of clothes shops they come in several shapes and configurations.
Types of Clothes Rail
Years ago the only clothes rail you would see in a shop was a long straight horizontal bar suspended by an upright at either end. In many shops these clothes rails were on wheels, allowing them to be moved around the shop and locked into place by wheel braces. This kind of traditional clothes rail is still around, but you tend to see them mainly in charity shops. Department stores and large clothes shops do use them, but mainly to display sale items or as a way of bringing new stock to the shop floor to be put on display properly.
Clothes factories and garment distributors also use this kind of clothes rail, but they call them garment rails.
The majority of modern clothing shops use fashion stands, which are designed to allow garments to be hung in a circle around the stand. They look much better than an old fashioned clothes rail and display the clothes much better. You can hang garments on them so that they face the customer front on. Whereas with the old fashioned kinds of rails the garments face the customer side on, so all they get to see of the garments is the sleeve.
Buying a Clothes Rail
Whilst the use of old style clothes rails has fallen out of fashion in shops many people still find them useful for the home. A lot of people have more clothes than they can fit into their wardrobe, so store spare or seasonal clothes in another room or in their garage.
You can easily buy a good quality clothes rail on the web. Make sure that the rail you are buying is solid that way it will cope with being fully loaded with clothes. A bottom shelf can by useful for shoes and if you have a lot of shirts a two tier rail is a good idea.