Question about CA numbers

[plousia]

I found this Indian cotton gauze skirt that I assumed was from the 70s. Looking up the CA number on the label gives the information that it was issued on 1997-09-25. The company the CA number was issued to, Impulse Imports, appears to have originally been incorporated in 1969.

The date of the CA number surprised me as I'd assumed the skirt was 70s. But then I looked up the CA number of a sundress I found in the same trip that definitely appears to be 70s and it too says it was issued 1997-09-25, the same date as the skirt. Anyone know anything about CA numbers? Is this some weird bureaucratic glitch?

Thanks in advance, also for any opinions about the skirt.

 

[plousia]

Oh I forgot to note that the company appears to have been dissolved in 1989, therefore the skirt can't be from the 90s. Are CA numbers kind of useless for dating then?

 

[Vintagiality]

According to @Jonathan who is the curator of the Fashion History Museum in Canada:

“The numbers before 1997 are not identified - every CA registration number issued by the Canadian Competition Bureau up to and including 1997 has a 1997 issuance date because that is when they digitized their files and because they failed to provide a place for the original date of issuance, all numbers up to that date were automatically identified as being issued in 1997.

I spoke with their archivist who checked one number for me as an example, and CA01937 was listed online as being issued in 1997 but he looked up the original paper files and he found it was originally issued in 1974. However, he was clear that he would not check the files for anyone who calls and asks - they would have to check with the company because it is the company who has the CA number to have it updated and most don't bother.”

 

[plousia]

According to @Jonathan who is the curator or the Fashion History Museum in Canada:

“The numbers before 1997 are not identified - every CA registration number issued by the Canadian Competition Bureau up to and including 1997 has a 1997 issuance date because that is when they digitized their files and because they failed to provide a place for the original date of issuance, all numbers up to that date were automatically identified as being issued in 1997.

I spoke with their archivist who checked one number for me as an example, and CA01937 was listed online as being issued in 1997 but he looked up the original paper files and he found it was originally issued in 1974. However, he was clear that he would not check the files for anyone who calls and asks - they would have to check with the company because it is the company who has the CA number to have it updated and most don't bother.”

Thank you very much, that's very helpful! I figured it was probably something like that. So CA numbers are likely not that useful for dating, but in this case it was useful to find information about the company.

 

[Jonathan]

Thank you very much, that's very helpful! I figured it was probably something like that. So CA numbers are likely not that useful for dating, but in this case it was useful to find information about the company.

And sometimes you can then search the company's name and get proper dates of operation.

 

[Jonathan]

Also, the skirt is not made in Canada, which you can determine because the washing instructions are not colour coded. In Canada, from the early 70s to the late 90s, all washing instructions used red, yellow, and green coding with the symbols to emphasize that you shouldn't, do with caution, or be fine with whatever the symbol represented. That disappeared with NAFTA, because the U.S. didn't use that colour-coded system. So when you have an item that dates from within that period (early 70s - late 90s) but doesn't have the colour coding, it means it was made outside of Canada and the company was an importer.

 

[plousia]

Oh very interesting, thanks! Another piece of useful information. I checked the sundress I bought at the same time as this skirt which appears to be 70s (or maybe 80s I guess) and it was made in China for a Canadian company and has the colour-coded symbols.

 

[Jonathan]

Oh very interesting, thanks! Another piece of useful information. I checked the sundress I bought at the same time as this skirt which appears to be 70s (or maybe 80s I guess) and it was made in China for a Canadian company and has the colour-coded symbols.

In that case it would have been made for specific export to Canada. The other skirt was a product made on spec and the buyer was a Canadian importer, so the stock already existed.