This Is How You Date Vintage Levi's Care Tags

Wondering if your Levi’s are actually vintage – and what year they were made? In this video, I’ll show you how to date Levi’s using the care tag, specifically by reading the date code on the back of the tag. We walk through Levi’s care tag history, how the tags changed over time, and how to decode the numbers so you can figure out the month and year of production on most Levi’s made in the last ~50 years. This is one of the most accurate methods of dating Levi’s, and it works for a huge range of jeans and jackets: 501s, 505s, 646s, and more. 🧵 In this video you’ll learn: How Levi’s care tags evolved from the 1970s to today The difference between stamp-only wash instructions and sewn care tags How to identify lot numbers, material codes, and factory codes How to find and eliminate the factory code so you don’t confuse it with the date code How to read 2-digit, 3-digit, and 4-digit date codes How to tell if your code is month/year (e.g. 12-2 = December 1972) How 4-digit codes in the 1990s/2000s work (e.g. 0793 = July 1993) How more modern tags use week/year formats (e.g. 4017 = 40th week of 2017) Why older pre–care-tag Levi’s (pre-1970s) require other dating methods TimeStamps 0:00 – Welcome & topic overview 0:40 – Why the care tag is the most precise dating method 1:52 – Quick history of Levi’s care tags (stamp era to multi-tag era) 3:24 – What information is on the care tag? (lot, material, factory, date code) 4:02 – Lot numbers & material codes explained 4:55 – Factory