How to Read Vintage Clothing Tags: RN Numbers, Care Labels and More

The label is the best place to start when you’re trying to work out how old a piece is. No single tag detail proves a date, but several clues together can point to a likely decade, which is what buyers look for when they search for vintage.

1. The RN number

Many US garments carry an RN number (a Registered Identification Number issued by the US Federal Trade Commission). It identifies the company that made, imported or sold the item.

• Look it up: the FTC has a public RN database where you can search the number to see which company it belongs to. That can identify a garment with no brand name, or a brand’s older line.
• What it doesn’t tell you: the year the garment was made. A company can keep the same RN number for decades.
• WPL numbers: some older wool garments carry a WPL number instead. These were issued under the earlier Wool Products Labeling Act and are no longer handed out, though some companies still use theirs. Seeing one is a hint the piece may be older.

2. Care labels

In the US, care instructions on clothing became a requirement in the early 1970s.

• No care label at all can be a hint of an older garment, but only if it doesn’t look like the label was cut out. Check for a stub of cut fabric in the side seam.
• Care symbols (washtub, triangle, iron icons) are generally more common on newer garments than written-out instructions.

3. Fiber content

US rules requiring fiber content on clothing labels go back to around 1960. On older pieces, look at how the fiber is described:

• Older trade names for synthetics can hint at an era.
• A separate fiber tag sewn into a side seam is common on later garments, while some older pieces have the content on the main label or none at all.

4. Union labels

Some American-made clothing carries a union label from the garment workers’ union that sewed it. Women’s clothing from the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) is the best known example.

• Union label designs changed over the decades, and collectors use those changes to estimate dates.
• The union merged in the mid-1990s, so an ILGWU label generally points to a garment made before then.

5. Country of origin

• “Made in USA” labels are more common on older American clothing, though plenty of newer pieces are US-made too.
• The country listed can hint at an era for some brands, as production moved between countries over time. Use this only alongside other clues.

6. The label itself

The physical label tells you something too:

• Woven labels with the brand stitched in are common on older and higher-end pieces.
• Printed satin labels and, later, printed directly on fabric (tagless) labels tend to be newer.
• Fonts and logos change over time. If you know the brand, compare with older listings to see which era a logo matches.

7. Construction details

Beyond the label, a few details help:

• Zippers: metal zippers are common on older garments; nylon coil zippers became widespread later.
• T-shirt hems: a single line of stitching on sleeves and hems was common on T-shirts before the mid-1990s. Some modern brands copy it, so don’t rely on it alone.
• Printed dates: graphic tees sometimes carry a copyright date in the print. That’s when the design was made, not necessarily the shirt.

8. Sizing

Vintage sizes often run smaller than modern ones with the same label. Always measure the garment rather than relying on the tagged size, especially for anything older.

Writing the era into a listing

Be honest about how sure you are:

• Confident, with several clues: “1980s.”
• Likely, from a couple of clues: “likely 1980s” or “1980s–90s.”
• Unsure: leave the era out of the title and describe the clues in the description instead (“union label, no care tag, metal zipper”).

Buyers who know vintage will check your clues, and an honest hedge is better than a confident claim they can dispute. For using the word “vintage” in titles, see how to write an eBay title.