HOW TO IDENTIFY AND AUTHENTICATE RICK OWENS
Rick Owens (Richard Saturnino Owens) began his namesake label in 1994. In 2001 Owens expanded his brand, relocating to Italy, and In 2002 the California born designer moved to Paris. Rick Owens and its sub-lines give wearers a distinct silhouette formed to the body, usually rendered in Owens’s favourite colour: the ever timeless black. Ironically for authenticators, Owens worked on designer fakes before opening his own label. Rick Owens is widely counterfeited. To be sure on the authenticity of any Rick Owens item, we would recommend using a service like LegitGrails who specialise in Rick Owens authentication.
In this guide, we detail the product code system of the Rick Owens brand and highlight some helpful reference points so that you can ensure your Rick Owens grails are genuine. By referencing Rick Owens serial codes, one can use online resources to discover and reference the exact item online, and determine its year and season.
HOW TO READ RICK OWENS SERIAL CODES AND THE PRODUCT CODE SYSTEM
The Rick Owens label uses a specific serial code system that denotes the year and season of production, and the sub-line to which the garment belongs. Finding discrepancies between the serial code and the product received is a surefire way of distinguishing a fake Rick Owens product from a genuine article. Moreover, one can use the rick Owens serial codes to find the exact product in question and cross-reference any differences.
Rick Owens has five mainlines and two diffusion lines in regular use; these can be identified using the letters at the beginning of every Rick Owens serial number. The question of how to identify the year and season of Rick Owens changes depending on the year as the brand has used several different label and product code systems.
TRUSS is currently working on a Rick Owens serial code checker.
PRE-2013 RICK OWENS SERIAL CODES AND PRODUCT CODES
Up until Rick Owens' Spring Summer 2014 collection ‘Vicious’, all lines followed a different serial code format to that which we see today. Before 2013, the first two letters denoting the line were followed by a space, a four-digit product code, a forward slash followed by two letters for the material, a space, and finally a four-digit colour code. An example would be RU 2754 /G 0009. RU denotes Mainline Mens (Rick Uomo), 2754 the product type, /G that it is 100% cotton and 0009 that the colour is black. In this case, we have a ‘Scorpio’ Tripple Zip Bomber Jacket from Spring Summer 2005. SOURCE: GROUPIENYC
‘Olmar and Mirta’ appears on most pre-2013 Rick Owens tags, a family-run factory where production was based before it was moved to Moldova. After the move, the product code changed. There is no way to decipher the year of release by using pre-2013 tags.
RICK OWENS SERIAL CODES AND PRODUCT CODES 2013 TO 2021
From 2013 onwards the product code system changed, and it became much easier to identify the year and season. RU and RR are used for Mainline Mens and Mainline Runway Mens respectively, as are RP and RO for Womenswear. RF is for Mainline Forever, these forever garments are often available all year round and are timeless Rick Owens designs that don’t change seasonally.
DU and DS refer to the DRKSHDW Men's and DRKSHDW Women's lines respectively. U is used for DRKSHDW footwear, often visible on the tongue or boot zip area. Other notable codes include HU for Michelle Lammy’s jewellery line titled ‘Hunrod’, and LI for the womenswear line ‘Lilies’. For Rick Owens DRKSHDW, you’ll find a Rick Owens portrait label, sometimes accompanied by a slim black DRKSHDW or DS woven label.
The format for post-2013 serial code is as follows: The first two letters tell you the line followed by two numbers which tell you the year. Then there will be an S for Spring Summer or an F for Autumn Winter (Fall Winter). This is followed by the product code, a hyphen, and the material code, and finally the colour code. An example would be RP15S5713-LGI 09, which is a ‘Faun’ Back Zip Leather Jacket from the Mainline Womenswear Spring Summer 2015 collection. The material is glass ice lambskin and the colour is black.
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE YEAR AND SEASON FOR RICK OWENS 2021 ONWARDS
After Rick Owen's Spring Summer 2021 "Phlegethon" collection, the brand changed the product code system on their care labels. As with before, they begin with two letters to indicate the line (RU, DU...etc.), however the season indicators, which now come before the year, changed to 01 for SS and 02 for AW/FW. The season code is then followed by a letter to indicate the year. A indicates 2021, B for 2022, and C for 2023. The letter will change alphabetically each year.
HOW TO IDENTIFY RICK OWENS COLLECTIONS
Each Rick Owens show has a collection title. Below is a comprehensive list of the names of every Rick Owens show.
AW98 Monsters SS08 Creatch AW08 "Stag"SS98 "Electra" AW09 "Strutter" SS09 "Crust"AW99 "Hydra" SS10 "Release" AW10 "Gleam"SS00 "Swans" AW11 "Anthem" SS11 "Limo"AW00 "Dust" SS12 "Naska" AW12 "Mountain"SS01 "Powder" AW13 "Island" SS13 "Plinth"AW01 "Slab" SS14 "Vicious" AW14 "Moody"AW02 "Sparrow" SS15 "Faun" AW15 "Sphinx"SS03 "Sukerball" AW16 "Cyclops" SS16 "Mastodon"AW03 "Trucker" SS17 "Walrus" AW17 "Glitter"SS04 "Citroen" AW18 "Dirt" SS18 "Sisyphus"AW04 "Queen" SS19 "Babel" AW19 "Larry"SS05 "Scorpio" AW20 "Tecuatl" AW20 "Performa"AW05 "Moog" SS21 "Phlegethon" AW21 "Gethsemane"SS06 "Tungsten" AW22 "Fogachine" SS22 "Strobe"AW06 "Dustulator" SS23 "Edfu" AW23 "Luxor"
WHERE TO BUY AUTHENTIC RICK OWENS?
Ebay, Depop, and Vinted all carry risks when using their platforms for buying designer items, as a general rule, if the price seems too good to be true then it likely is. Rick Owens found on Panda Buy, Taobao and Alibaba are almost certainly fake and these platforms should be avoided. Popular pieces such as the Rick Owens ‘Ramones’ sneakers are the most faked, details such as the wrong sole unit for the line, or uneven stitching are visual identifiers for fakes of this silhouette. To find genuine Rick Owens, we recommend searching on TRUSS, Vestiaire, or Grailed. Due to the complexity of the cuts, Rick Owens is rarely faked and through referencing the typography of the tag and assessing the overall quality of the garment, spotting fake Rick tends to be easy.