Cracking the Code

What Those Numbers on Your Hermès Scarf Tag Actually Mean Part III

There are many, many variations of paper hang tags and laminated tags that we have seen throughout the years.

Hermès doesn’t tend to indicate scarf seasons directly these days. I mentioned earlier that the production month is indicated on the most recent style of laminated tags, but that is it. Around 10 years ago, the Japanese Hermès website listed the season for the scarf listings, but that was unique.

A collector friend recently shared some old tags that reminded me that in the early 2000s, the hang tags actually indicated the season.

Here is an Alphabet Russe hang tang that clearly indicates the season — 06H. It stands for L'automne-hiver 2006, or fall-winter (or autumn-winter, depending on what one prefers).

I don’t know what the ‘40000…’ under the bar code stands for, but the reference code is H002298S (note the H wasn’t commonly used then; I am just converting it into the modern format):

• 00 is a 90cm silk scarf (here listed as 35in).

• 2298 is the design code. Some of its adjacent neighbors are:

  • 2294 Christine Henry’s Chemins de Garrigue (spring-summer 2006)

  • 2295 Karen Petrossian’s Les Petits Métiers de Paris (autumn-winter 2006)

  • 2296 Cyrille Diatkine’s En Désordre (autumn-winter 2006)

  • 2300 Henry d’Origny’s Projets Carrés (autumn-winter 2007)

• 02 is the colorway (Dur/Caban/Multicolore).

• S means women’s collection.

Excitingly (for me, anyway), the same friend also shared this tag image:

This is the exact same scarf, but pleated — same colorway. Note the reference code: H162298S. 16 means a 90cm pleated scarf. Pretty simple if one knows what it means.

Here is an example of what a spring-summer season hang tag would look like: a Soiree de Gala reissue dating back to spring-summer 2006 (06E for Printemps-été 2006).

My guess is that seasons are not typically clearly indicated because the company doesn’t want to turn off customers if something is not the ‘current season.’ Also, the seasons are blending—I just bought a 140cm silk Bouquet Final scarf made in June 2026, although it is a spring-summer 2026 design, and the fall-winter ones are already in stores. Here is the tag (67 is silk 140 scarf in a regular weight, not the plume/summer version):

As always, all research is my own and based on my own collection and experience. I welcome all additions and corrections.