Page 17 - The Collector's Companion: Issue CC103

Stamp of approval

Union & certification labels

Union and certification labels are another great way to
date vintage clothing and can quickly tell you if an item
is being mis-sold. One caveat to note, these are opt-in
schemes so whereas the presence of a Woolmark knot
will guarantee your knitwear was made after August
1964, its absence is not proof it was made before then.

ILGWU Woolmark
(Top to bottom) Late 1964 - present
1974 - 1995
1963 - 1964 NRA
1940 - 1956 1933 - 1935
National Recovery Board
1938 - 1964

CC41 Utility was created by the British ACWA
Board of Trade to certify that clothing, (Top to bottom)
1933 - 1936
furniture, footwear and textiles met the 1936 - 1939
austerity regulations during and after WWII. 1962 - 1968
ACTWU
The Utility mark launched in September 1941 1976 - 1995
and its use ended in March 1952. It is often
UNITE
incorporated into the manufacturer’s label and 1995 - 2004
usually includes a code (e.g. X209) which tells you
the type of cloth it is made from.
A code pre-fixed with ‘X’ tells you that the cloth is
Super Utility (a better quality) and therefore dated
after January 1948. Three digit numbers are earlier,
gradually being replaced with four digits. Three digits
were finally phased out by November 1948.

The CC41 label will often be very faded to the point of
almost being invisible or partially removed as people
had a tendency to cut them out to avoid stigma.

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