Most of the reference books list Barbie dolls and fashions (and this website) by the date the item was on the market. However, a collector should be aware that the manufacture obviously must make their supplies prior to it being on the market, thus an outfit label or tag that has a date of  © 1968 means that it was made or copyright in that year, but probably was not on the market till at least the following year. So when trying to identify an outfit look one year after the date on the tag.  

Also, outfits had only one label or tag but often several clothing pieces.  Labels are most often found in the outermost clothing piece for female attire.  In a three piece suit for Barbie:  jacket, blouse, pants or skirt the label will be found in the jacket.  In # 991 Barbie's Registered Nurse the label is in the navy cape, not the white nurse dress. Male fashions do not follow this example, it seems the labels are more often found in the shirt rather than the jacket.

Barbie was the star of the Mattel line, so other 11 1/2" friends were meant to share her wardrobe (this way a new doll could be purchased but a whole new wardrobe was not necessary).  Other than the swimsuits they were clothed in, only a handful of outfits were designed and labeled for the friends.  Julia had four outfits, Stacey at least one, and PJ about two.  The same was true for Francie sized 11 1/4" dolls, her friend Twiggy had four outfits labeled for her and Casey just one. Skipper's sized 9 1/4" friend Skooter, only a swimsuit is labeled for her, but Ricky who is also 9 1/4" sized (and has the same body as Skipper & Skooter), of course, got his own wardrobe of six outfits.  Ken is 12" tall (only in 1963 was he 11 3/4") and shares his wardrobe with Allan, Brad and Curtis.

All the early Barbie clothing and dolls were made in Japan.  The zippers in the clothing have YKK on the zipper pull.  Metal snaps in clothing may carry the mark of * 5 0 0 or K 5 I 0 (there may be other markings too, but this is what we found on 10 garments from this era). In 1972 Mattel introduced color coded packaging, they also stopped labeling or tagging the clothing and no longer used title names for the outfits.

Shoes - Early Barbie's open toe heeled shoes have a left and a right to the pair.  The left shoe is marked Japan.  The same is true of Skipper's flat shoes, the left one is marked Japan.  During the MOD era Skipper's shoes are marked Taiwan, and these are a little larger due to the bend leg dolls have larger feet.

Reproduction outfits we believe are tagged Barbie ® Reproduction © BY MATTEL.  However a Gay Parisienne reproduction outfit has the label in the white faux fur stole and it is the Barbie ® © BY MATTEL label.

All Vintage Barbie, Family & Friends Doll Clothes 1959-1976

Barbie doll clothes 11 1/2"   1959-1963 | 1964-1965  1966-1968 | 1969-1970 1971-1972 | 1973-1974  1975-1976 | Rare | Japanese Ken, Allan, Brad, Curtis doll clothes 12"  1961-1967 | 1969-1976   Skipper, Skooter, Fluff, Tiff, Ginger doll clothes 9 1/4"    1964-1970   1971-1979 Francie, Casey, Twiggy doll clothes 11 1/4" 1966-1969 | 1970-1975 Japanese Tutti, Chris, Buffy, Carla, Pretty Pairs, doll clothes 6 1/4"   1966-1968 Barbie Dolls & Clothes Gift Sets 1960-1974