Skip to main content
MerchVice

Date a shirt's tag

Photograph a shirt's tag and stitching to see roughly when it was made, and why.

The vintage tag dater reads the tag inside a shirt and the stitching on a sleeve or the hem, then gives a likely range of years with the reasons. It's free, and you don't need an account.

How to do it

  1. Tap All tools at the foot of any page, then Vintage tag dater.
  2. Under Your photos, add the tag inside the neck, straight on so every word reads. Add the stitching on a sleeve or the hem, and anything printed on the back, if you can. Use JPEG, PNG or WebP.
  3. Not signed in? Check Let AI read these photos. They are not kept. Signed in, your AI setting decides, and you may be asked once.
  4. Tap Read my photos. Rather not use AI? Tap Fill in the tag details by hand.
  5. Read When it was likely made: a range such as Likely 1988 to 1992, with each reason and its source under Why. If anything under What the tag says is wrong, change it and the range follows.
  6. Tap Share this result for a story card. Check Make this shareable to put your tag photo on the card and on a link. Signed in, tap Post this shirt to add it to your closet with the range.
The vintage tag dater on a phone: Your photos, with a place each for the tag, the stitching and anything printed on the back.Open the tag dater

Good to know

  • It's a guide, not a guarantee: always a range, never one exact year, and never a word about what a shirt is worth.
  • Your photos are read and then dropped. Only a link you made shareable keeps the tag photo, for 90 days, with its location and camera details removed. The link never shows who made it.
  • Each person gets 10 photo reads in a day. On a busy day the dater can rest for everyone until tomorrow. Either way, Fill in the tag details by hand still works.
  • When the tag says one era and the stitching or the print another, the dater says so under These signs disagree. That can mean an old print on a later shirt, or a later print on an old one.
  • No shirt handy? Try a sample shows a full result with no photo and no AI. Something look wrong? Tell us sends a note with what the dater showed, never your photos.

Was this helpful?

We count the answer for this article and keep nothing about you.

Still stuck?

Write to us and a real person reads it.