Louis Vuitton Date code checker

Six codes from our own stock. The table shows what the checker reads from each one.

Almost always inside, usually on a small leather tab in a seam or an interior pocket. On wallets and pouches it is often tucked under a card slot. The code is tiny and often faded, and sometimes it sits on two lines or with a space. A flashlight held low, from the side, shows it best.

The table describes where the code sits on most bags of a model. Over the years, though, Louis Vuitton has moved it again and again, sometimes even between the sizes of one model. On an Alcantara or microfibre lining the code is stamped straight into it and is often barely legible. If you cannot find it straight away, look in every pocket and under every tab.

There is no documented spot yet for Pochette Félicie (2015), Eva (2008), Delightful (2010), Totally (2009), Graceful (2017), Boîte Chapeau Souple (2018), Petite Malle (2014), Hampstead. The general rule usually applies, inside on a leather tab in a seam or interior pocket. If you have a photo, we would be glad to add it.

From about March 2021 there is usually no code, only a hidden chip. Louis Vuitton does not say where it sits.

Five bags from our own stock, each with the code clearly legible. We inspected and photographed every one of them ourselves.

Since 1982 Louis Vuitton has changed the format three times, and the checker recognises each of them on its own. The format used from 1990 causes the most confusion, so the two examples below take it apart character by character.

Since 1990 the digits have been interleaved. In SD2151 the first and third digits give week 25, the second and fourth the year 2011. This is exactly where many tables online go wrong.

The two letters stand for the workshop where the bag was made. Its country should match the “Made in” on the heat stamp. Some codes were used in two countries, SD for example in France and the USA, and in that case the “Made in” decides.

Louis Vuitton has never published an official date code list. Ours brings together 19 independent lists from 25 sites and holds 137 codes. Eight more are documented so inconsistently that we only keep them in the checker.

Codes marked * appear in only a few sources. If a code is missing, that does not make yours wrong. Feel free to send it to us with the button in the result.

Codes with a catch

Some codes were used in two countries, are only documented for a certain period, or stand for something other than a factory.

Since spring 2021 Louis Vuitton no longer stamps a date code but sews in a chip. The brand never announced it. Resale specialists date the switch to March or April 2021, and for a while there were bags with a code, with a chip, or with both.

A consistent code tells you when and where a genuine bag would have been made. It cannot tell you whether your bag is genuine, because counterfeiters know the rules and stamp valid codes, often the same one on many bags.

The other way round, a code that cannot exist under the rules of its time is a strong warning sign. The checker catches this reliably, for example an impossible month, a year before the model was introduced, or a factory code that does not match the “Made in”.

It does not judge the heat stamp, stitching, leather, hardware or patina. A bag is always judged as a whole, and this is how we inspect every one before it goes into the shop. There are three questions you can ask yourself.

Louis Vuitton does not give each bag its own serial number. Anyone looking for a Louis Vuitton serial number lookup almost always means the date code, and that is not unique. Many genuine bags from the same week carry the same one.

The number made of M or N and five digits, such as M40995, is the model number. It appears on the receipt, while the date code never does. If the code’s date is later than the purchase date on the receipt, the receipt and the bag do not belong together.

The Z-number on the temple of sunglasses, the M-number and size on a belt, the reference and serial number of a watch and the lock numbers of a trunk are not date codes either.

1. Speedy

   On the Speedy 25, 30, 35 and 40 the code sits on one of the small leather tabs riveted to the lining, hidden under the loose interior pocket. Only one of the tabs carries it. The Speedy has been around since 1930, so the checker runs no launch-year test here. On bags from the 1980s the code often sits on two lines, such as “VI” over “881”. On the Speedy Bandoulière it can be the left or the right tab.

2. Neverfull

   On the Neverfull, look under the interior zip pocket. The code sits on a small leather tab in the seam, usually on the right. On the Epi leather Neverfull it sits inside one of the handles instead. The model launched in 2007, so a code from 2005 cannot belong to it. The pouch that has come with it since 2013 has its own code, which is normal.

3. Alma

   On the Alma PM and MM the code is in the flat interior pocket, on a small leather tab in the seam. Older Epi leather Almas have an Alcantara lining, and there it is stamped straight into the lining and often faded. The Alma BB has existed since about 2010. A code or a “Made in” on the outside of the bag is a known warning sign.

4. Pochette Métis

   The Pochette Métis hides its code in the zipped pocket on the back, not in the main compartment. Close the flap, turn the bag over and open the pocket, and you will find a small leather tab, usually on the right. The model dates from about 2012. From 2021 the tab carries no code, and a chip is hidden somewhere in the bag instead.

5. Zippy Wallet

   The Zippy Wallet usually has no tab. The code is stamped straight into the lining, often along a seam in the main bill compartment behind the card slots and sometimes along the zip. It is small and easy to miss, so it is worth checking every compartment.

We compiled the rules and factory codes from 19 independent lists on 25 sites and checked them against each other. Where the sources disagree, the checker says “not conclusive” instead of guessing. We tested every rule against the codes of 140 bags from our own stock, from 1982 into the 2010s.

The checker never rules on authenticity. It does not replace a look at the whole bag.