Summary of 500s Series outfits and a list of the outfits: The 500s Series
Description
This outfit consists of a cotton ‘swing’ style A-line dress with matching bloomers. It has a sailor collar with a ribbon bow, lace, and rick-rack. The same rick-rack runs along the bottom hem. On the left side of the skirt is a sailboat patch, with an arched Cabbage Patch Kids logo patch over it. The bloomers match the dress fabric and have no trim around the leg holes.
This outfit came with regular lace-up shoes.
There’s some debate about when this dress began being sold. Although it has a 500s series number, most of which started being sold in 1985, Coleco may not have started selling this outfit on dolls until 1986. (Ref#3 p. 399) It likely ended production sometime in 1986 as well. Consequently, it would have been produced for a limited amount of time. If this outfit is found on a later kid, it was most likely the company getting rid of ‘older’ stock.
Version Information
My goal is to find every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of each version of this outfit that I have. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to these posts: 1st Blog – Why do this project?, What are Clothing Tag Codes?, Factories and Companies
If you have an outfit that is not recorded here or does not match my information, (e.g. You have a 504A OK that is yellow, not pink.) I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Factory Variations
> The Collar: The Taiwan factory collars appear to have an extra flap section with rick-rack that the China factory collars do not.
> The Lace: It seems that the lace used by the Taiwan and China factories is different. It’s hard to tell, but it appears that the KT and P factory lace are the same, while the AX lace is different.
> The Rick-rack: The location of the rick-rack around the skirt hem seems to change based on the factory. KT is right along the hem edge, AX is about 1cm away, and P is the furthest away from the hem.
Similar Outfits
> Outfit #1 – Swing Dress
> Outfit #655 – More basic Swing Dress
> Foreign: I am only aware ofJesmar, of all the foreign factories, producing a swing-style dress. For information on identifying a Jesmar version, jump to Identifying Jesmar Clothing.
Other Information
> Fun fact: This outfit can be found in the 1985 Coleco Catalogue (p. 5). It looks very similar to outfit #504B, but may in fact be a prototype outfit like so many of the others in this catalogue.
