Perennial Vintage Supply: Vintage Labels │ Identifying Vintage Clothing │ Vintage Label Love

I just photographed and drafted fifteen items of clothing for my vintage shop yesterday. I had a lot of labels to look at.

And I wanted to give you a sample of the labels.

Labels are an important part of the piece of clothing. Often, many labels fade, fall off, or are removed over the years, so when the piece still has the label, it helps to identify the piece's decade, who made it, and where it was made.

It's literal icing on the vintage cake.

Below is a perfect sample. Here are 10 labels of my most recent batch of clothing I'll be listing in the shop. The labels have changed in fabric as well as size over the years. But the diversity is lovely, as is the fact that this batch of 10 items comes from the 1950s through to the early 2000s.

Many times, today's clothing has been screen-printed or lasered on labels, so once that's washed off, there's nothing to know about the piece.

I prefer actual labels (even if they itch your neck.) Label love is a real thing in the vintage community. A piece is still magnificent without the label, but with it, there's even more to love about the item.

Over the years, with research and repeated viewings, you learn to discern what era or decade each piece comes from. It's not 100% accurate; I'm not 100% correct. For example, some items I think are '70s are actually from the '60s decade.

A great website to learn more about labels is Vintage Fashion Guild. Incredibly helpful website about vintage clothing.

It's trial and error, for me. After nearly fifteen years of selling vintage, I'm still learning new things about vintage clothing every day. Which is a beautiful thing. But, as a vintage lover, wearer, and seller, I love vintage labels with every part of my being.