Luxury Leather Goods Authentication Specialist
Fine jewelry authentication specialist. Focuses on hallmarks, stone setting, and metal finishing.
Published September 2026 · Contact
Two Tags, Two Jobs
A modern Gucci bag has two interior tags, and they do different things:
- The leather patch — sewn into the lining, two rows of six digits: a style number and a serial number. It identifies the model. It carries no date.
- The black label — a shiny fabric tag stitched inside bags made after about 2014, usually near a zip or the top of the interior. It has an encrypted QR code and a printed number. That number is where the year of manufacture lives.
If you want to know when a bag was made, the black label is the one to read.
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Use our free Gucci Serial Number Checker to decode the serial on your Gucci leather tag and check the format.
Check My Serial →Where the Black Label Is
Look inside the main compartment, near the top edge or beside an interior zip. The black label is small, black, and made of a silk-like fabric that catches the light. It is stitched flush into a seam — not hanging like a care tag.
On the label you will see a single printed QR code and, near it, a number. Some labels also carry small printed text. The number is what this guide decodes.
Compare that against a counterfeit black label. The fake print is softer and greyer, the letterforms are rounded rather than straight-sided, and the QR block is coarser:
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Reading the Year From the Label Number
The first digits of the black-label number map to the year of manufacture:
| Label number begins | Year |
|---|---|
| 019 – 020 | 2014 |
| 021 – 022 | 2015 |
| 023 – 024 | 2016 |
| 025 – 026 | 2017 |
| 027 – 028 | 2018 |
| 029 – 030 | 2019 |
| 031 – 032 | 2020 |
| 033 – 034 | 2021 |
| 035 – 036 | 2022 |
| 037 – 039 | 2023 |
| 040 – 042 | 2024 |
No calculation — match the leading digits to the row. Gucci used two codes per year from 2014 to 2022, then switched to three per year from 2023. Continuing that pattern, a label beginning 043–045 is roughly 2025.
So a label starting 029 is a 2019 bag. A label starting 037 is a 2023 bag.
Our free Gucci serial number checker does this lookup for you — enter the black-label number and it returns the year, and it will decode the leather-patch serial in the same pass.
One caveat worth stating plainly: this table comes from third-party authentication guides, cross-checked but not published by Gucci. Gucci's own verification is the QR code, below.
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Scanning the Encrypted QR Code
The QR code on a Gucci black label is not a normal QR code. Point a standard scanner app at it and you get nothing — it is encrypted, and it only resolves inside Gucci's own app.
To scan it:
- Install the official Gucci App (App Store or Google Play).
- Open My Gucci → Gucci Tag.
- Scan the QR code on the black label through that screen.
The app checks the code against Gucci's records and confirms the bag. It is the brand's own authentication step, and it is the one that carries real weight — the printed year is a supporting detail next to it.
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What a Genuine Black Label Looks Like
The label itself is a checkpoint, separate from what it says:
- Material: a delicate, shiny, silk-like fabric. A matte, coarse, or plasticky tag is wrong.
- Font colour: black and a dark blue. Pure white or grey printing is a red flag.
- The letter G: thin at the top and bottom, thick on the left and right sides.
- The number 0: drawn straight-sided, with very little curvature — closer to a rounded rectangle than a circle.
- Stitching: even and flush into the seam, not puckered or loose.
A label with the right number but the wrong material or font is still a fake label.
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Bags Made Before 2014
Older Gucci bags have no black label. They rely on the leather-patch serial:
- Mid-1990s to early 2000s: a single row of 10 digits.
- 2000s onward: two rows of six digits — style number over serial number.
- Pre-1994: often no serial tag at all, just a "Made in Italy" stamp, sometimes with a model name.
None of these encode a production date. For a pre-2014 bag, date it from the style, the hardware, the lining, and the logo details rather than a code.
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What the Label Cannot Do
- Counterfeiters produce black labels with plausible numbers and passable printing.
- A "correct" year is consistent with a bag being genuine; it does not prove it.
- The label says nothing about the leather, the hardware weight, the stitching regularity, or the GG alignment — which is where a Gucci bag is actually authenticated.
If the label and the QR both check out and you still want certainty, a professional authentication examines the physical build and issues a verdict.
FAQ
Where is the black label on a Gucci bag?
Inside the main compartment, near the top edge or beside an interior zip, stitched flush into a seam. It is a small black tag in a shiny silk-like fabric, with a printed QR code and a number.
How do I read the year from a Gucci black label?
Match the leading digits of the label number to the table: 019–020 is 2014, rising by one year per two codes through 035–036 for 2022, then three codes per year from 037–039 (2023) and 040–042 (2024). A label starting 029 is a 2019 bag.
Why won't my phone scan the Gucci QR code?
Because it is encrypted. A standard QR scanner app cannot read it. It resolves only in the official Gucci App under My Gucci → Gucci Tag, which is Gucci's own authentication check.
Do older Gucci bags have a black label?
No. The black label appears on bags made after about 2014. Older bags are identified by the leather-patch serial — 10 digits on a single row for mid-1990s to early-2000s bags, two rows of six digits from the 2000s on, and often no tag at all before 1994.
Does a correct year on the black label prove the bag is real?
No. It is a supporting signal. Counterfeiters make black labels with plausible numbers. The label material, the font weight of the G, the shape of the 0, and above all the QR check in the Gucci App all have to agree, along with the physical bag.
