I would add that you can NEVER rely on unknown sellers. When I am not coming up with enough information on my own, I will do a search and look for reliable sellers who I know to do their research (other VFG members, sellers who I have done business with, etc), I will also look for an article of clothing that I can definitively date, and look at what the seller says. If they are bullshitting, I know that their research might be shoddy on their other items. So, if you are using other sellers to confirm what you already know, that is more reliable than looking for an answer you cannot prove yourself. This works for narrowing down the date of labels, too. You have to be able to recognize the clues on the garment, before you compare your label to theirs. Pick a few things for your own research and confirmation - patterns, reliable sellers, the label resource, pants rise - things you can recognize on your own, so you are only comparing what you know to what you are being told. Starting with a burn test can take a lot of the guesswork out of the beginning of the process! You can often tell a range of time, based on what the fiber is - especially in the eras of synthetics, as new products were in development all the time and have patent dates. I never go on just the label. It is helpful, but without the other clues lining up, it cannot be the only source of information! This is why when someone posts just a picture of the label, one of us always chimes in to also see the item.
