A Louis Vuitton date code is the small stamp of letters and digits inside a bag. It is not a serial number, many bags share the same code, and its format has changed over the years, so the first step is matching the code to its format. Type it into the decoder.
Enter a date code and its window appears here. What you enter is not uploaded. The reading runs in your browser.
A date-code reading describes format only. It is not proof of age or authenticity, and it is not an appraisal.
Looking for a date code checker? This decoder only matches the code to a documented format window. It does not check authenticity, decode the factory letters or say when a particular bag was made.
Vintage Bag Index is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Louis Vuitton.
Fashionphile says the code is usually stamped on a leather tab sewn along a seam inside the bag. It also lists a tab at the edge of an interior pocket, the underside of the leather tab that holds a D-ring, and the lining itself. On a Speedy or a Neverfull, look underneath the interior hanging pocket.
On an Alcantara lining the code can be stamped straight onto the lining, where Fashionphile says it often fades over time. On wallets and small leather goods it is usually along a side seam in the billfold or slip pocket.
Luxe Du Jour adds a few places by model. Older Noé bags carry the code on the edge of the strap where it loops onto the bag, the Alma on a leather tab inside the pocket on the right-hand side, and the Speedy Nano right under the heat-stamp tab.
Type the date code only. The Louis Vuitton heat stamp is a separate mark.
Each row is a window from the Vintage Handbag Identifier app, under the app's own name for it. The shape, example and reading come from the guides in the last column.
| App window | Shape | Documented example | How the digits are read | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No date code | No code | None | Both guides date the first codes to 1982. Earlier items have none. | Fashionphile, Rebag |
| Early-1980s numeric (year then month) | 3 or 4 digits | 844 | The first two digits give the year, the rest the month. | Fashionphile, Luxe Du Jour |
| Mid/late-1980s digits then two letters | 3 or 4 digits, then 2 letters | 882 VI | The first two digits give the year, the rest the month. The letters are the factory. | Fashionphile, Luxe Du Jour |
| 1990–2006 month/year format | 2 letters, then 4 digits | SP0065 | The 1st and 3rd digits give the month, the 2nd and 4th the year. | Fashionphile, The RealReal |
| 2007–early 2021 week/year format | 2 letters, then 4 digits | SR3179 | The 1st and 3rd digits give the week, the 2nd and 4th the year. | Fashionphile, The RealReal |
| Chip / no visible date codeLow confidence | No visible code | None | Resale guides report a chip in the lining instead of a code from about March 2021. | Handbagholic, Luxe Du Jour |
These are the same windows the Vintage Handbag Identifier app uses, so the website and the app place a code in the same window. The app holds the chip window at low confidence, and this page reports the change only as the resale guides describe it.
Fashionphile's example SP0065 shows how a 1990s code reads. The second and fourth digits, 0 and 5, give the year 05. The first and third, 0 and 6, give the month 06. So the code says June 2005. That is what the code says, not proof of when the bag was made.
The app's late-1980s and 1990s windows both include 1990, because 1990 codes are documented in both shapes.
From 1990 the code is two letters and four digits, and it keeps that shape after 2007. What changed in 2007 is the meaning of the first and third digits. Fashionphile and The RealReal both read them as the month before 2007 and as the week from 2007.
So read the year first. The second and fourth digits give the year. If they give 90 to 99 or 00 to 06, use the month rule. If they give 07 to 21, use the week rule.
Take TH0934. Its year digits are 9 and 4, so it follows the 1990s month rule, and its first and third digits, 0 and 3, give month 03. Read with the week rule it would become the third week of 1994. Some guides read 1990s codes that way.
The month rule also gives a check the week rule does not. Months run from 01 to 12, so a 1990s code whose first and third digits give 13 or more does not fit its format. The decoder says so rather than reading it again as a week.
Either way, this is what the code says. It is not proof of when a particular bag was made.
On a code from 1990 on, the two letters come before the digits. On a mid or late 1980s code they follow them. Fashionphile and Rebag both say the letters identify the factory.
This page shows the letters as stamped and does not name a factory or a place. Published letter lists do not agree with each other: Rebag and Fashionphile both list FL and SD under two different countries.
A few codes start with A0, A1 or A2, a letter and then a digit, which coutureusa.com notes can make them look like a model number. The decoder reads that pair as the letters.
Fashionphile's guide says modern Louis Vuitton pieces carry a date code rather than a serial number. A date code is not unique to one bag: Luxe Du Jour and Handbagholic both say many bags share the same code.
Older Louis Vuitton trunks are different: they can carry a serial number that the house archive can match to a date. Sotheby's catalogued a steamer trunk with serial number 021826 impressed on its escutcheon, and reports that the Louis Vuitton archive dates it to around 1907.
If you searched for a Louis Vuitton serial number lookup, the code inside a bag is its date code. Type it into the decoder at the top of this page.
A model number such as M41522 names a catalogue reference. coutureusa.com says model numbers often start with M or N, followed by five digits.
It also says most Louis Vuitton bags do not have the model number stamped on them. It is on the paper tag that came with the bag, or on the Louis Vuitton website while the item is still sold. Belts, scarves and recently made bag charms can carry both a model number and a date code.
A date code never names the model. Type a model number into the decoder and it tells you so.
The Vintage Handbag Identifier app holds 473 documented Louis Vuitton references from 1985 to 1999. Its photo results name a documented family, such as Speedy or Keepall, or an era.
The journal explains what the Keepall's 45, 50, 55 and 60 sizes mean.
Fashionphile places it underneath the interior hanging pocket, on the Speedy and on the Neverfull. Luxe Du Jour places it right under the heat-stamp tab on the Speedy Nano.
Sources: Fashionphile, Luxe Du Jour.
No. Louis Vuitton bags carry a date code, and the same code appears on many bags. It records a factory and a date in a documented format, not an individual bag.
Sources: Fashionphile, Luxe Du Jour.
Items made before 1982 have none. On an Alcantara lining a code can fade until it is hard to read. From about March 2021, resale guides report that new bags carry a chip in the lining instead. A missing code does not date a bag on its own, and it does not show whether a bag is genuine.
Sources: Fashionphile, Rebag, Handbagholic, Luxe Du Jour.
Resale guides report that from about March 2021 new Louis Vuitton bags and leather goods carry an RFID chip inside the lining in place of a visible date code. One guide says a phone app can detect that a chip is there, but the guides say only Louis Vuitton staff can read what it holds. This decoder cannot read a chip.
Sources: Handbagholic, Luxe Du Jour, Luxity, l'Etoile de Saint Honore.
No. Many counterfeits carry a code in the correct format. A code that fits a documented window is one consistency check, not proof that a bag is genuine, and not an appraisal.
Sources: Fashionphile, Luxe Du Jour.
Read the second and fourth digits first: they give the year. On a code from 1990 to 2006 the first and third digits give the month, not the week. The week rule only applies from 2007.
Sources: Fashionphile, The RealReal.