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Vintage Crown

March 26th, 2010 admin No comments

strong>vintage crown
Is a clothing item likely to be vintage if the tag says "Made in British Crown Colony of Hong Kong"?

I've noticed this on a few vintage sweaters i've seen..
(as opposed to just saying "Made in Hong Kong")

Yes, some vintage items do have this rather odd label. We've forgotten that until recently Hong Kong was a leased by the British and considered a colony of Britain until the late 1990's when the lease expired. Some British owned clothing factories would use this label to set their goods apart from poor quality goods that were merely "made in china" or "Made in Japan" These items were made for direct export to the UK in colors and styles that would appeal to the british because many british people didn't like foreign made goods and only wanted to buy british. This was especially true after WWII when the UK was attempting to rebuild after the devastation fo the war. It's rare to find these clothes in Canada and US with this label. Yes, there's an element of racism to this. Even more rare is anything labelled "made in occupied japan" this label was used for a brief time at the close of WWII and can be found on a few items of clothing made for export and some glass bead jewelry.

You will need to look for other clues for the clothing's age such as wear and tear, fiber and fabric, colour and style details. The label does indicate that its likely pre-1990's at least.