ILGWU Union Labels: History and How to Date Them
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The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) represented workers making women's clothing in the US and Canada from 1900 until it merged into UNITE in 1995. Its label changed design at known points, so an ILGWU label can usually date an American garment to within ten to twenty years.
Company history
Our union labels guide, drawing on Cornell's Kheel Center (the union's archive) and the Vintage Fashion Guild, records that the ILGWU was formed in New York City in 1900 and peaked at about 450,000 members. An early label was adopted at the founding convention but rarely used. The union set up a Union Label Office in 1936, launched the label across the industry on January 9, 1959, and by 1961 more than 880 million ILGWU labels a year were going into garments. In 1995 it merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to form UNITE.
Label timeline
| Label or clue | Approximate dates | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Early ILGWU label | 1900 onward | Optional and rarely used; expect very few |
| Prosanis (Joint Board of Sanitary Control) | 1924 to 1929 | Tied to union shop conditions |
| NRA Blue Eagle | 1933 to 1935 | New Deal era |
| Consumers' Protection label (coats and suits) | 1935 to about 1959 or 1960 | Merged with the ILGWU label in May 1960 |
| ILGWU label, AFL era (no "CIO") | Before 1955 | Pre-1955 |
| ILGWU label with "AFL-CIO" | 1955 to 1963 | More likely late 1950s to early 1960s |
| Small blue printed fabric label on basic outerwear | From 1958 | Kheel Center detail |
| Redesign stressing "union made" (blue and white) | 1963 to 1974 | Mid-1960s to early 1970s |
| Red, white and blue with "Made in U.S.A." | 1974 to 1995 | The easiest to spot |
| UNITE | 1995 onward | After the merger |
Canadian ILGWU labels had their own designs (VFG contributors date one to 1957 to 1968 and another to 1968 to 1984), so the US chart can mislead on them.
What it helps date
- The full chart, with where the sources disagree, is in our union labels guide and the vintage label lookup.
- Era quick checks: an AFL label fits the 1940s; AFL-CIO the late 1950s; "union made" the 1960s; red, white and blue the 1970s and 1980s.
- For men's clothing use the ACWA label instead.
Values
A union label adds little value by itself, per our union labels guide; value comes from the garment. Collectors do search for it on eBay, as where to sell vintage notes.
check sold prices for ILGWU label vintage dress on eBay
Sources
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Free vintage label dating cheat sheet, by email:
Guides that mention ILGWU
- 1910s Clothing: How to Date and Value ItDate 1910s clothing by Empire waists, hobble skirts, tunics and wartime hemlines, check fibres and fasteners, and see realistic 2026 auction values.
- 1920s Clothing: How to Date and Value Flapper-Era FashionDate 1920s clothing by waistline and hemline, spot real beaded flapper dresses versus costumes, and see realistic 2026 auction values by garment type.
- 1930s Clothing: How to Date and Value ItDate 1930s clothing by bias cut, natural waist, shoulders, zippers and NRA labels, tell it from later copies, and see realistic 2026 auction values.
- 1940s Vintage Clothing: How to Date and Value ItDate and value 1940s clothing: L-85 and CC41 wartime rules, rayon and early nylon, side metal zippers, key labels, and 2026 price ranges.
- 1950s Vintage Clothing: How to Date and Value ItDate and value 1950s clothing: New Look to sack silhouettes, early synthetics, metal zippers, ILGWU and fibre labels, and 2026 price ranges.
- 1960s Vintage Clothing: How to Date and Value ItDate and value 1960s clothing: early-60s polish to mod and hippie looks, new synthetics, coil zippers, label laws, and 2026 price ranges.
Related
- ACWA Union Labels: History and How to Date ThemDate men's suits, coats and shirts by the ACWA union label: the first label of 1916, the 1949 design with and without the registered mark, and ACTWU.
- Dating Vintage Clothing by ILGWU and Other Union LabelsHow to date American garments by their ILGWU, ACWA, NRA and Consumers' Protection labels, with a period-by-period chart and where the dates disagree.
- Vintage Label Lookup: Date Clothing by Label, RN and Union TagFree printable vintage label dating cheat sheet with union label versions, RN and WPL numbers, care and fiber law dates, ZIP codes and zipper clues.
- Where to Sell Vintage Clothing in 2026Compare eBay, Etsy, Depop, Vinted, Poshmark, The RealReal, consignment and auction houses by fees, audience and the vintage pieces each sells best.