How to Date Comme des Garçons From the Tags

Most Comme des Garçons care labels contain two pieces of dating information: an AD year and a product code. Read them together. Neither is always enough on its own.

For example, a jacket marked PL-J049 and AD2023 dates to Autumn/Winter 2023-24:

• P identifies Comme des Garçons Homme Plus.
• L is the season letter for Autumn/Winter 2023-24.
• J identifies a jacket.
• 049 is the style number.
• AD2023 confirms which ten-year cycle the letter belongs to.

The important complication is that Comme des Garçons has used more than one code format. Modern codes put the season in the second position; codes from the late 1980s through Spring/Summer 2001 put the garment type there instead. Several continuity lines, including PLAY, do not encode a season at all.

Comme des Garçons Tag Dating at a Glance

1. Find the AD year on the care label.
2. Copy the complete product code exactly as printed.
3. Decide which code system applies: modern, pre-AW01, or a line-specific exception.
4. Read the line character and confirm it against the sewn brand label.
5. Decode the season and check that it agrees with the AD year.
6. Check the garment letter against the piece.
7. Confirm the result with runway imagery, an official listing, or another dated source.

Use the AD year to choose the right decade, not as the collection date by itself. It is generally a production-year marker: an AD2023 label can belong to Autumn/Winter 2023-24 or Spring/Summer 2024.

First Choose the Correct Code System

The change to the modern format occurred around Autumn/Winter 2001-02. Spring/Summer 2001 examples still use the older order, and garments near the changeover deserve an especially careful reading.

How the AD Year Works

AD is commonly understood as année de création—the year associated with production or creation—not a unique collection code.

• An Autumn/Winter garment normally shares the calendar year printed after AD.
• A Spring/Summer garment is commonly produced in the preceding year.

So AD2023 usually narrows a seasonal garment to:

• Autumn/Winter 2023-24, or
• Spring/Summer 2024.

The product code resolves which one. This rule also explains why dating a piece from the AD year alone is often off by one season.

Dating Modern Codes: Autumn/Winter 2001-02 Onward

A modern product code usually follows this structure:

Retailers and resellers may remove punctuation, turning PL-J049 into PLJ049. Some append a plain-language season code such as W23; that addition is useful corroboration but is not part of the core decoder.

First character: the line

J and W are easy to confuse: J identifies Junya Watanabe womenswear, while W identifies the men's and eYe lines.

The meaning of S depends on the era. Older references associate it with SHIRT, while current S codes are used by the CDG logo line and current SHIRT uses F. Always compare the code with the actual neck label and AD year.

For the differences between these labels, see Comme des Garçons lines explained.

Second character: the season

Season letters run from A to T, covering twenty consecutive seasons before repeating after ten years. A begins with Spring/Summer in a year ending in 8; the following letter is that year's Autumn/Winter season.

An AW year in this table means the season beginning in that year: AW23 is Autumn/Winter 2023-24.

The dashes cover seasons that predate the modern code format. The AD year tells you which of the displayed cycles is possible. For example, L can mean AW03, AW13, or AW23; AD2023 selects AW23.

This sequence has been checked against dated Wardatrobe garments and product listings from Dover Street Market. Those sources continue the sequence through Q for Spring/Summer 2026 and R for Autumn/Winter 2026-27. The decoder is reconstructed from documented garments rather than an official Comme des Garçons specification.

Garment letter

These are internal product categories, not strict retail names. A tailored outer layer may be filed as either J or C, for example. Use the garment letter to check consistency rather than to identify the exact model.

When Z Means No Season

Continuity products remain in production across collections, so their codes cannot point to one runway season. These commonly use Z as the second character and occasionally X.

Examples include:

• PLAY heart-logo pieces with AZ- or AX- codes
• CDG logo products with SZ- codes
• jewellery with OZ- codes
• The Beatles collaboration with VZ- codes
• SHIRT Forever with FZ- codes

If the second character is Z, stop using the seasonal letter chart. The AD year may identify the production run, but it does not turn a continuing design into a seasonal collection piece.

An X code also deserves caution. Confirm it through an official or dated listing before assigning a collection.

Dating Pre-2001 Codes

From approximately Autumn/Winter 1988-89 through Spring/Summer 2001, the product code uses a different order. In this system, the second character identifies the garment—not the season—and the first digit after the hyphen separates Autumn/Winter from the following Spring/Summer.

PJ-10067M with AD2001 reads as:

• P: Homme Plus
• J: jacket
• 1: Spring/Summer
• 0067: style reference
• M: size

The result is Spring/Summer 2001.

FW-01033S with AD1994 reads as:

• F: SHIRT
• W: garment or item group
• 0: Autumn/Winter
• remaining characters: style and size information

The result is Autumn/Winter 1994-95.

The practical rule is:

Collector tkiy_0's Japanese tag guide documents this older character order. Photographed examples from Japanese vintage dealer EMIT TOKYO also support the rule:

Some guides interpret the digits after the hyphen as a production month rather than a binary season flag. On documented examples, both interpretations lead to the same season: codes beginning 0 align with Autumn/Winter and those beginning 1 with the following Spring/Summer. Until a primary specification settles the meaning, use the pattern as a dating aid rather than claiming a documented factory convention.

Garments Without an AD Year

Core Comme des Garçons labels generally begin using the AD mark around Autumn/Winter 1988-89. A complete, original care label without an AD year can therefore support a pre-1988 date.

Absence is not proof by itself. Tags are cut out, printing fades, replacement labels exist, and certain lines or export products use different formats. A suspected early garment should be matched to runway photographs, catalogues, museum records, or a documented example of the same design. TRUSS Archive likewise treats early pieces as requiring visual and contextual research.

Line-Specific Exceptions

Comme des Garçons SHIRT

SHIRT used several distinct label systems:

• Early pieces through roughly 1994 used embroidered labels.
• Around 1995–98, sideways-sewn labels can carry the Japanese textile registration number D-TK9210.
• Around 1998–2001, the head-office address appears instead.
• From AW01 through roughly SS21, many SHIRT products use a numeric system without the usual line-and-season pair.
• Current SHIRT products use the F line character within the modern system.

On the middle-period numeric codes, a leading S or W identifies the half-season and the trailing number can encode the year by subtracting eight. For example, S25102 gives 25 − 8 = 17, or Spring/Summer 2017.

Do not assume every older SHIRT garment lacks an AD year. Documented 1990s pieces carry one, so treat a missing mark as something to investigate rather than a self-sufficient date.

PLAY Comme des Garçons

PLAY is a continuity line. Its recurring AZ- and AX- codes do not advance with runway seasons. Use the AD year to estimate the production period, then compare label construction and product details with documented examples. Do not assign a PLAY basic to a seasonal collection from Z or X.

Perfumes and wallets

Comme des Garçons Parfums uses fragrance-specific identifiers rather than the clothing system. Wallets commonly use a separate SA-prefixed series without a season field. The modern clothing chart does not apply to either category.

Worked Modern Example: WN-J906, AD2024

1. W identifies Junya Watanabe MAN or eYe.
2. N corresponds to AW14 or AW24 in the displayed cycles.
3. AD2024 selects AW24.
4. J is consistent with a jacket.

The best-supported date is Autumn/Winter 2024-25. If the retailer also prints W24 after the product number, that provides a second direct confirmation.

Common Dating Mistakes

Reading the AD year as the collection year

An AD2023 Spring/Summer garment is generally from SS24, not SS23. Establish whether the piece is SS or AW before turning the production year into a collection date.

Applying the modern order to an older code

In a modern PJ- code, J is the season letter. In a pre-AW01 PJ- code, J is the garment category. The AD year and tag format tell you which grammar to use.

Assigning a season to Z

Z usually marks a carryover product. It is not the next step in the A–T sequence and does not identify a runway season.

Confusing Junya womenswear with Junya MAN

The line character is J for Junya Watanabe womenswear and W for Junya Watanabe MAN and eYe. Confirm the actual brand label rather than using “Junya” as one combined category.

Treating a coherent code as authentication

A product code is easy to copy from a genuine listing. It provides an internal consistency check, not proof of authenticity. The line, AD year, season, garment type, label construction, country information, materials, and physical quality should agree.

The Best Evidence, in Order

For the most defensible date, use the strongest evidence available:

1. An official product page, collection listing, receipt, or catalogue naming the season.
2. A match to a documented runway or lookbook garment.
3. Agreement between the AD year, product-code season, line, and garment type.
4. Label construction and line-specific tag details consistent with the period.
5. Seller descriptions, unsourced charts, and visual guesses.

Sometimes the honest result is a production year or range rather than an exact collection. This is especially true for PLAY, SHIRT Forever, accessories, and other continuity products.

Add Your Pieces to Wardatrobe

Create a free Wardatrobe account and catalogue the pieces you own in your digital wardrobe. Record the complete product code and AD year exactly as printed, plus the tagged size, country of manufacture, and clear photographs of both sides of the care label. Already a member? Open your wardrobe.