RICK OWENS CODE CHECK

Rick Owens serial number checker, the line and the season

Enter the code from the care label, as far as the model number or in full. Spaces, dashes and underscores are fine.

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What a Rick Owens product code actually tells you

What people call the Rick Owens serial number is the product code on the care label, and it tells you the line and the season. Since Fall/Winter 2021 it reads as two line letters, 01 for Spring/Summer or 02 for Fall/Winter, a year letter, then a four digit model number: in RU02F4967, RU is mainline menswear, 02 is Fall/Winter and F is 2026, with A for 2021 and one letter on each year after it. From Fall/Winter 2013 to Spring/Summer 2021 the code carried two year digits and S or F instead, so DU15F is DRKSHDW menswear from Fall/Winter 2015. Labels before that name the line and the product but no season. As far as we can find, Rick Owens has never published this key. It comes from collector and reseller guides that agree, and we checked the current format season by season against listings that name the collection and against the brand's own shop for Fall/Winter 2026. The code is not unique to your piece, every item of that model in that color carries it.

It names the line and the season, which is what you need to check a listing against: a code from a season the model was never sold in, or a DRKSHDW code on a mainline label, is a mismatch worth having checked. A few styles cross lines and long-running models are re-coded every season, so a mismatch is not proof on its own. A matching code does not prove the piece is genuine either. Counterfeiters print real codes, so the code has to agree with the model, the materials, the color and the label it sits on.

RICK OWENS PRODUCT CODE FORMATS

Rick Owens product codes era by era

Era What the marking looks like Example
Fall/Winter 2021 onwards, line, season and year letter Two line letters, 01 or 02 for the season, a year letter, then a four digit model number RU02F4967 → Fall/Winter 2026
Fall/Winter 2021 onwards, Rick Owens x Moncler MU, the same season digits and year letter, then a four character model number that can hold a letter MU02D1C02 → Fall/Winter 2024
Fall/Winter 2021 onwards, another line prefix Two letters we cannot name, then the same season digits, year letter and model number RV01C4890 → Spring/Summer 2023
Fall/Winter 2021 onwards, a shoe stamp without the line letters, read from our photos of authenticated pairs and a matching box label 01 or 02 for the season, a year letter and a four digit model number, followed by the shoe size on the pairs we have seen, with no line letters in front 01E5897 → Spring/Summer 2025
Fall/Winter 2013 to Spring/Summer 2021, two year digits and S or F Two line letters, two year digits, S or F for the season, then a four digit model number DU15F5152 → Fall/Winter 2015
Before Fall/Winter 2013, line and product number only Two line letters, a four digit product number, a material code and a four digit color RU 5256 /UC 0078

Compiled from professional authentication references and reviewed in-house.

THE FULL CHART

Rick Owens product code chart code by code

  • 132013
  • 142014
  • 152015
  • 162016
  • 172017
  • 182018
  • 192019
  • 202020
  • 212021
  • A2021
  • B2022
  • C2023
  • D2024
  • E2025
  • F2026

In this chart, 13 to 21 are the year digits used with S or F up to Spring/Summer 2021, and A to F are the year letters used from Fall/Winter 2021, so 21 and A both read 2021 for different seasons.

WHERE TO LOOK

Where the product code sits on your Rick Owens

Rick Owens product code on the care label

On the care label sewn inside the garment, the one with the washing instructions. The product code is the first run of letters and digits, followed by a material code, with the color number nearby.

Typical marking RR02F4705 LCD 39

Labels made before Fall/Winter 2013 carry a line and a product number but no season, so they cannot be dated from the code.

Rick Owens care label with the product code RU02B2796-NZD4 printed under the logo, above the size grid and the color 09 Black
A Rick Owens care label with the product code printed under the logo.

Rick Owens shoe code stamped inside the tongue

On the pairs we have seen, the code is stamped inside the tongue. Those stamps leave out the two line letters at the start, so they begin with 01 or 02.

Inside the tongue
The code without its line letters, then the size
Box label
The full code, line letters included, on the one pair where we also have the box

Typical marking 01E5897 44

No published guide describes the short stamp: this part rests on our own photographs of three authenticated pairs and the one box label. If the code is not there, check the inside of the tongue, the lining by the zip and the insole.

Inside of a Rick Owens sneaker tongue stamped 01E5897 44, the product code without its line letters, then the shoe size
A sneaker tongue stamped 01E5897, followed by the size 44.
NO CODE

If your label has no season in it

Labels made before Fall/Winter 2013 carry the line, a product number, a material and a color, but no season or year, so they cannot be dated from the code: date them by the collection the model belongs to. One guide reports Forever, jewelry and eyewear codes with 00M, 00W or 000 where the season sits, and the checker cannot read those yet. On shoes the code can sit on the tongue or by the zip rather than on a sewn label. None of that is a fault.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Rick Owens product code questions

The things people ask about Rick Owens product codes, answered from the sources this page is built on.

Where is the serial number on Rick Owens clothing?

On the care label sewn inside the garment, the label with the washing instructions and the materials. The code is printed as one run of letters and digits, usually followed by a material code, with the color number nearby, for example RR02F4705 LCD 39. On shoes it is often stamped inside the tongue, or inside the zip flap on boots, rather than on a sewn label.

How do I read a Rick Owens product code?

Take RU02F4967. RU is the line, mainline menswear. 02 is the season, Fall/Winter, where 01 would be Spring/Summer. F is the year, 2026, counting A for 2021, B for 2022, C for 2023, D for 2024 and E for 2025. 4967 is the model number, which identifies the design and does not date it. Anything after that is the material, the color and sometimes the size.

What do RU, RR, RP, DU and DS mean?

They are the line. RU is Rick Owens mainline menswear and RR is its runway menswear. RP is mainline womenswear and RO is runway womenswear. DU and DS are DRKSHDW for men and for women. LI is Lilies, RF is Forever, the pieces made every season, and HU is Hunrod, the jewelry line. In codes from Fall/Winter 2021 on, the checker also names RA for accessories and bags, RG for eyewear, RJ for jewelry, BG for kids, and the collaborations: CM and CW with Champion, BM and BW with Birkenstock, DM with Dr. Martens, MU with Moncler and DC for DRKSHDW with Converse. Each name is given by at least two separate collector or reseller guides. RA, RG, RJ, BG and DM rest on two collector guides. RL and DL are capsule lines, RL for Rick Owens and DL for DRKSHDW, which the brand's own shop files as its Bonotto and Made in Japan capsules. The shop also uses prefixes our sources do not agree on, DW and RV among them, and for those the checker reads the season and leaves the line unnamed.

My code has 15F or 19S in it. What does that mean?

That is the format used from Fall/Winter 2013 to Spring/Summer 2021. The two digits are the year and the letter is the season, S for Spring/Summer and F for Fall/Winter. So DU15F5152 is a DRKSHDW menswear piece from Fall/Winter 2015 and RU20S7371 is mainline menswear from Spring/Summer 2020, the Tecuatl collection. The last season in this format was Spring/Summer 2021, coded 21S, and Fall/Winter 2021 was the first to use 02A.

Does a correct product code mean my Rick Owens is real?

No. It means the code is in a real format and tells you which line and season it claims. Counterfeiters copy real codes from real listings. The useful test is agreement: look the code up and check that the model, the color, the material code and the label all match the piece in front of you. A mismatch between the code and the item is one of the clearest signs worth having checked.

What do the letters and numbers after the model number mean?

They are the material and the color. Collector and reseller guides agree on a few material codes: BA, RN and JA are all cotton, and TE is 97% cotton with 3% elastane, so for these four the code should agree with the fiber content printed on the same label. Guides and the brand's listings agree on 09 black, 08 pearl, 11 milk, 34 dust and 78 dark dust. Several colors are run together, as in 911 for black, milk and milk, and the zeros are dropped unevenly, so a long color number cannot always be split back. Many other codes exist that we cannot confirm from two sources, so an unfamiliar one is not a bad sign.

Is the product code unique to my item?

No. It is a style code, not a serial number in the sense of one per piece. Every item of the same model, material and color from that season carries the same code, which is why it is useful for looking a piece up and useless for registering one.

Why is my code not recognized?

The most common reasons are a typo, a year letter after F, or a label from before Fall/Winter 2013 typed without its line letters. After the line letters there should be 01 or 02 with a year letter, or two year digits with S or F, so a code with neither has usually lost a character. A year letter G would be 2027 if the alphabet carries on. No G code has been seen yet, so the checker does not guess at one, and a code with a newer letter may simply be from a season after our data, which is not a sign of a fake. No code begins 01A either: Spring/Summer 2021 still used 21S. Check the letters against the care label, and type the code from the start of the line letters.

Is the Rick Owens season code the same as the collection name?

It points to it. Each season has one main collection, and the code carries the season, not the name. Where two separate sources agree, the names are Fall/Winter 2013 Plinth, Spring/Summer 2015 Faun, Fall/Winter 2016 Mastodon, Spring/Summer 2017 Walrus, Fall/Winter 2017 Glitter, Spring/Summer 2019 Babel, Spring/Summer 2020 Tecuatl, Fall/Winter 2020 Performa, Spring/Summer 2021 Phlegethon, Fall/Winter 2021 Gethsemane, Spring/Summer 2022 Fogachine, Fall/Winter 2022 Strobe, Spring/Summer 2023 Edfu, Fall/Winter 2023 Luxor, Spring/Summer 2024 Lido, Fall/Winter 2024 Porterville, Spring/Summer 2025 Hollywood, Fall/Winter 2025 Concordians and Fall/Winter 2026 Tower. Diffusion lines such as DRKSHDW share the mainline season. Forever pieces, coded RF, are not tied to a collection. Up to Spring/Summer 2025, mainline neck labels were also hand-stamped with the collection and season, which should match the code. Collectors report that from Fall/Winter 2025 the stamp is no longer applied as standard, so the code is the surest way to read the season.

Still not sure? Ask the authenticators The people who read these markings for a living, and who will check your item
FREE LEARNING

Free Rick Owens authentication guides

A code narrows things down. These guides cover what it cannot tell you about a real Rick Owens: the stitching, the hardware and the leather. , our guide author since 2019, draws every method from what our authenticators have documented across 2 million+ real items. Read his Rick Owens guides, or browse the full library of free guides. LegitGrails authenticates 600+ brands.

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