Thank god for this thread! I just received the onthego PM in empriente noir today from a sales associate at the LV boutique at Macy’s in herold square and I’ve never purchased over the phone before. I got my bag today and couldn’t find the date code. Mine says Louis Vuitton Paris and no made in, but a chat associate on the LV website said that means it was made in the USA. This thread makes me feel so much better!!
News on date codes!
- Thread starter Chellwebb
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So I ordered a 4 key holder in damier azure, which I received today. The first thing I do whenever I receive a new LV item is to look for the date code, mainly because I love figuring out when the item was made. However, I was shocked to find the my item has no date code. I freaked out and started worrying about my item. I immediately called LV‘s customer service about it and learned that date codes are being phased out. Vuitton is switching over to a microchip instead. I think this is awesome but what are your thoughts?
Good to fight against fakes, but wonder how it will effect ppl trying to authenticate items and whether pre loved LV is safe anymore
The codes were fun, but despite the common misconception, they did not really contribute anything to the authenticity of the products.
It depends. The fake date code helped authenticate and identify the fake character imprints even more. Beside if buying preloved it is somewhat helpful knowing if a leather bag was made 3-4 years ago or a few months ago, as leather even if kept pristine does age.
I will miss the date codes. They were fun when trying to buy a pre-loved bag for a certain year, and knowing where your bag was made. I'l miss it. But oh well. Time marches on.
Yes, it shows the age, but most of the time the sellers know exactly when they bougth the bag (and very few bags sit in store for years). And on better fakes, they get the codes right, since they use the same fan-made unofficial code lists that we can find online and what the so-called "authenticators" use. When the codes are really off, then those bags usually scream fake anyway.
But funnily sometimes Vuitton itself messes up the code (I assume intentionally).
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/did-the-made-in-tag-on-neverfull-change.1038675/
Here you can find 2 people who bought directly from Vuitton. One of the bags was 2 weeks from the future, the other one was off by 25 years.
Yes, I just bought a new bag from latest collection ast night, Utility crossbody. I cannot find the date code in the bagwhen I was at boutique. The store manager did come over to explain that going forward, new models and new bags will not be having date code label at the bag. So it will be hard for us as we used to having the date code to know the year the bag is made in and where. Pity! Sad 
“Made in France” stamps stay. I am sure they will assist you in store and tell you the date if you insist. The old code had weekly precision. Now they know it way more precisely for you. And regarding the letters: I am sure that only a very few date code lovers know that DU stands for Ducey, and I don’t know that knowing that makes any difference for us or not.Yes, I just bought a new bag from latest collection ast night, Utility crossbody. I cannot find the date code in the bagwhen I was at boutique. The store manager did come over to explain that going forward, new models and new bags will not be having date code label at the bag. So it will be hard for us as we used to having the date code to know the year the bag is made in and where. Pity! Sad
There were already fake micro chipped LV bags produced last year when LV were experimenting it and these fake bags could be scanned shown exact the bags LV were selling
LV generates a unique identifier for every single item, and puts them on a blockchain. Like Bitcoin. They cannot be copied or modified without ruining the entire chain, which is held privately by LVMH. So noone from the outside can add new items to the database. Each identifier contains the exact date (not just the week) and a long list of other data about materials, manufacturing, etc... that is all tied to the RFID chip that is sewn into the products.
Vuitton can scan the chips in stores with their iPads, and check the data on their blockchain for authenticity and other info. If they are generous, they will open it up for clients, so they can also access some data with their phones. But surely not everything.
You can hunt for the few last items they have with an old stamped code, but soon only some unpopular items will be like that on the shelves. But what the code did, these chips do it 1000x better. But at the moment, you need to ask LV to decode it for you. But the original codes were also not meant for us anyway.