What Year Is This from? Visual Clues and Tag Guide to Instantly Date Any Item
By Chloe Bennett
Clothing tags are regulatory documents masquerading as branding. If an apparel piece bears a Federal Trade Commission Registered Identification Number, that code narrows down the earliest possible distribution date. The FTC introduced the system under the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, issuing WPL numbers from 00101 to 04040 until 1959. Any garment sporting a WPL designation was manufactured between 1941 and 1959.
From 1959 onward, the FTC switched to the standard RN designation. Numbers starting at RN 13670 rolled out sequentially. A five-digit RN below 50000 places the business registration in the 1960s, while six-digit numbers starting with RN 100000 or higher point toward late-1990s and post-2000 corporate filings. An RN lookup reveals the company incorporation year rather than the exact day the cotton was cut, but a brand cannot produce a shirt decades before its registration number existed.
Federal labeling laws introduce razor-sharp boundaries. Prior to July 1971, American manufacturers were not legally required to provide garment care instructions. If an item lacks washing instructions entirely, it almost certainly predates 1971. In 1984, Congress enacted strict country-of-origin revisions, requiring all domestic and imported garments to explicitly state where they were constructed. Tags simply reading "100% Cotton" without a "Made in USA" or offshore identifier fall reliably between 1971 and 1983.
Union tags narrow the window further. The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) updated its label aesthetics across specific labor negotiations. The blue-lettered label with a scalloped wheel and red stripes ran from 1974 to 1995. When the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in June 1995 to form UNITE!, the iconic scalloped graphic vanished permanently.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
