Read the label before you pay for the story.
Sourced label-and-tag intelligence for the great houses — the same protocols the Scout runs on every listing, published in the open. Two sources or it ships as rumor; where a tell is collector-lore, we say so instead of dressing it up as proof.
6 tells
Maison Martin Margiela
What do the circled numbers on a Margiela label mean — and what year is mine?
Read the protocol7 tells
Alexander McQueen (the Lee era)
How do I tell Lee-era McQueen from Burton-era — and is the hair label real?
Read the protocol7 tells
Helmut Lang (the personal period)
Is my Helmut Lang from the personal period (本人期) — or post-2005?
Read the protocol7 tells
Raf Simons
Is my Raf original or Archive Redux — and which label era is it?
Read the protocol7 tells
Hedi Slimane (Dior Homme · Saint Laurent · Celine)
How do I date Hedi-era Dior Homme — and is 'CELINE' without the accent his?
Read the protocol6 tells
Yohji Yamamoto
What season is my Yohji — and is it mainline or Y's / Y-3?
Read the protocol6 tells
Comme des Garçons (+ Junya Watanabe)
How do I read a CDG product code — and what does the AD year actually mean?
Read the protocol6 tells
Ann Demeulemeester & Dries Van Noten
Is it 'Ann by Ann' / 'Dries at Dries' — or a successor-era piece?
Read the protocol7 tells
womenswear sizes (cross-house)
What does an Italian 40 actually fit — and why does the same '38' mean two different bodies?
Read the protocol6 tells
Marc Jacobs (Perry Ellis · Louis Vuitton · Heaven)
How do I date a Marc Jacobs–era Louis Vuitton — and is a 'grunge' piece real?
Read the protocol7 tells
Rick Owens (the product-code watershed)
How do I date a Rick Owens piece — and does 'Olmar and Mirta' mean it's pre-2013?
Read the protocol5 tells
Stüssy (the recycled-tag trap)
How do I date vintage Stüssy — and why doesn't the neck tag prove anything?
Read the protocol5 tells
Supreme (the tag eras & the reps war)
How do I tell a real Supreme box logo from a rep — and what do the tag watermarks mean?
Read the protocol5 tells
A Bathing Ape / BAPE (the NOWHERE.CO.LTD tell)
How do I tell vintage BAPE from post-2011 — and what does 'NOWHERE.CO.LTD' on the tag mean?
Read the protocol4 tells
XLARGE (the two-market split)
Why are early XLARGE pieces mislabeled — and what's the OG Vermont Ave era?
Read the protocol4 tells
fragment design (authenticate the partner)
How do you authenticate a fragment piece if fragment doesn't make anything?
Read the protocol6 tells
Balenciaga (the Ghesquière era)
How do I date a Balenciaga moto bag — and is mine really from the Ghesquière era?
Read the protocol6 tells
Gucci (the Tom Ford era)
How do I tell Tom Ford–era Gucci — and what does the black QR label mean?
Read the protocol7 tells
Old Céline (the Philo era)
How do I tell Old Céline from Hedi-era CELINE — and what does the date code say?
Read the protocol5 tells
Bottega Veneta (the Daniel Lee era)
Does the intrecciato weave date a Bottega — and is my Pouch from the Lee era?
Read the protocol6 tells
Undercover (the tag eras)
What season is my Undercover — and is UNDERCOVERISM a diffusion line?
Read the protocol7 tells
Number (N)ine (the name on the label)
Is my Number (N)ine actually Miyashita-era — and what are the reprints worth?
Read the protocol7 tells
Vivienne Westwood (the provenance wars)
How do I authenticate punk-era Westwood — and why won't the label settle it?
Read the protocol7 tells
Stone Island / C.P. Company (the badge & the art number)
How do I date Stone Island — and does the green-edge badge mean Osti?
Read the protocol7 tells
Issey Miyake (the line galaxy)
How do I date Issey Miyake — and is 'founder era' even a hard boundary?
Read the protocol7 tells
Kapital (provenance over tags)
How do I date Kapital — is there a label cipher at all?
Read the protocol6 tells
Off-White (the Virgil era)
Is my Off-White real — and which tag era is it from?
Read the protocol6 tells
Denim Tears
How do I tell a real Denim Tears cotton wreath from a fake?
Read the protocol7 tells
Louis Vuitton (the date-code cipher)
What does my Louis Vuitton date code mean — and does it prove anything?
Read the protocol6 tells
Prada (the Miuccia era)
Is my Prada vintage or a Re-Edition — and does 'made in Italy' even matter?
Read the protocol5 tells
Miu Miu (the campaign-era map)
How do I date archival Miu Miu — and is the boom pricing real?
Read the protocol5 tells
GOODENOUGH (the root label)
How do I authenticate vintage GOODENOUGH — and was there really a UK era?
Read the protocol5 tells
NEIGHBORHOOD
How do I date NEIGHBORHOOD — and which Supreme collabs are real?
Read the protocol5 tells
WTAPS (the season code)
What does the WTAPS care-tag code mean — and is my piece really from 1996?
Read the protocol9 tells
Yves Saint Laurent (the Rive Gauche label)
Is my 'Saint Laurent Rive Gauche' piece actually from the Yves era — or Ford, Pilati, or Elbaz?
Read the protocol9 tells
Gucci (the Michele era)
Is my Gucci from the Alessandro Michele era — and can the QR label or NFC tag authenticate it?
Read the protocol12 tells
Hermès (the blind stamp)
What year is my Hermès blind stamp — and does the letter prove the bag is real?
Read the protocolOr skip the homework
Drop any listing into the Scout — it runs every protocol on this page against the label, the tags, and the seller's story, and hands you the verdict.
Scout a pieceThe Dispatch
One letter when the canon deepens. No noise.