Reading Japanese clothing labels

Vintage clothing made for the Japanese market carries its facts in Japanese. Two small labels do most of the work: one for the fiber content, one for washing. This guide reads both on a real piece from our shop, a knit cardigan labelled DUKEDOM and made in Japan, and explains the one detail that helps you date it.

Short answer: 品質表示 is the fiber label (アクリル is acrylic, 毛 is wool, 綿 is cotton) and 日本製 means made in Japan. 取扱い方 is the care label. If the care symbols have Japanese words inside them, such as 手洗イ in a wash tub, they are Japan's old symbols, which were replaced on 1 December 2016, so the garment was made before then.

A burgundy knit cardigan with a shirt collar, button front and a black front panel edged with a white stripe. — The cardigan: burgundy and black knit with a white stripe, made in Japan.

1. The brand label at the neck

A small woven label reading DUKEDOM sewn inside the back of the neck. — The brand label at the back of the neck: DUKEDOM.

Many Japanese labels from past decades use English or English-sounding names, so the brand label alone does not tell you the country. We could not find a reliable history of DUKEDOM, so we do not guess at one. The labels further down tell you more.

2. The fiber label: 品質表示

A white label headed 品質表示, listing アクリル 70% and 毛 30%, with 日本製 and a style code below. — The fiber label: acrylic 70%, wool 30%, made in Japan.

Words you will see on a Japanese fiber label
Japanese	Reading	Meaning
品質表示	hinshitsu hyōji	Quality label (fiber content)
アクリル	akuriru	Acrylic
毛	ke	Wool
綿	men	Cotton
日本製	nihon-sei	Made in Japan

This one reads acrylic 70%, wool 30%, made in Japan, with a style code underneath. In our experience, acrylic and wool knits like this keep their shape well over the years.

3. The care label: 取扱い方, and the date clue

A white care label headed 取扱イ方, with four symbols: a wash tub marked 手洗イ 30 中性, a crossed-out flask, an iron marked 低, and a circle marked ドライ. — The care label, with Japan's old symbols. Note the Japanese words inside the symbols.

Read from left to right:

A wash tub with 手洗イ, 30 and 中性. Hand wash at up to 30°C with a mild (neutral) detergent.
A flask crossed out. No chlorine bleach.
An iron with 低. Iron on low heat.
A circle with ドライ. Dry cleaning is fine.

The date clue is the style of the symbols. Japan used its own care symbols, with Japanese words written inside them, until it switched to the international ISO 3758 symbols on 1 December 2016. The number of symbols went from 22 to 41 (Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). So a care label like this one, with 手洗イ inside the tub, tells you the piece was made before that date.

That is the only thing the symbols prove. They do not say how much earlier.

What we think, and what we cannot prove

Close view of the cardigan front: a black knit panel with fine red lines, a white stripe and square buttons. — The front panel: black knit with fine lines and a white stripe, and square buttons.

From the shirt collar, the bowling-shirt layout of the front and the style of the labels, our shop dates this cardigan to around the late 1960s to 1970s. That is our judgment from handling many similar pieces. The labels themselves only prove that it was made in Japan, before December 2016.

This cardigan is in our shop

We run a small vintage shop in Kawagoe, Japan, and this cardigan is for sale there (Old Pawn Notes and the shop are run by the same people). It measures 47 cm across the chest and 63.5 cm long. The shop page is in English; the detailed description is still in Japanese.

See the cardigan in our shop

Sources

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: the new care symbols from 1 December 2016 (in Japanese)

This guide was drafted with AI assistance from our own notes and photos, then checked by the shop owner. Every photo shows a real piece we handled. Any diagrams are simple drawings and are labelled as diagrams.