diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3cdce51..17a6dd5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -54,6 +54,28 @@ julia> SLArray{Tuple{2,2}}(a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4)
  2  4
 ```
 
+One can also specify the indices directly.
+```julia
+julia> EFG = @SLArray (2,2) (e=1:3, f=4, g=2:4);
+julia> y = EFG(1.0,2.5,3.0,5.0)
+2×2 SLArray{Tuple{2,2},Float64,2,4,(e = 1:3, f = 4, g = 2:4)}:
+ 1.0  3.0
+ 2.5  5.0
+
+julia> y.g
+3-element view(reshape(::StaticArrays.SArray{Tuple{2,2},Float64,2,4}, 4), 2:4) with eltype Float64:
+ 2.5
+ 3.0
+ 5.0
+
+julia> Arr = @SLArray (2, 2) (a = (2, :), b = 3);
+julia> z = Arr(1, 2, 3, 4);
+julia> z.a
+2-element view(::StaticArrays.SArray{Tuple{2,2},Int64,2,4}, 2, :) with eltype Int64:
+ 2
+ 4
+```
+
 Constructing copies with some items changed is supported by
 a keyword constructor whose first argument is the source and
 additonal keyword arguments change several entries.
@@ -76,26 +98,20 @@ julia> B2 = SLArray(B; c=30 )
  2   4
 ```
 
-One can also specify the indices directly.
-```julia
-julia> EFG = @SLArray (2,2) (e=1:3, f=4, g=2:4);
-julia> y = EFG(1.0,2.5,3.0,5.0)
-2×2 SLArray{Tuple{2,2},Float64,2,4,(e = 1:3, f = 4, g = 2:4)}:
- 1.0  3.0
- 2.5  5.0
+Creating subsets is supported by function `subset`.
+It differs from slicing via `[]` by retaining the labels, instead of returning an Array.
 
-julia> y.g
-3-element view(reshape(::StaticArrays.SArray{Tuple{2,2},Float64,2,4}, 4), 2:4) with eltype Float64:
- 2.5
- 3.0
- 5.0
 
-julia> Arr = @SLArray (2, 2) (a = (2, :), b = 3);
-julia> z = Arr(1, 2, 3, 4);
-julia> z.a
-2-element view(::StaticArrays.SArray{Tuple{2,2},Int64,2,4}, 2, :) with eltype Int64:
- 2
- 4
+```julia
+julia> zs = SLVector(a=1.0,b=2.0,c=3.0);
+julia> zsSub = subset(zs, (:c,:a))
+2-element SLArray{Tuple{2},Float64,1,2,(:c, :a)}:
+ 3.0
+ 1.0
+julia> zs[[:c,:a]]
+2-element Array{Float64,1}:
+ 3.0
+ 1.0
 ```
 
 ## LArrays
diff --git a/src/LabelledArrays.jl b/src/LabelledArrays.jl
index d145981..ec01c9a 100644
--- a/src/LabelledArrays.jl
+++ b/src/LabelledArrays.jl
@@ -13,5 +13,6 @@ export SLArray, LArray, SLVector, LVector, @SLVector, @LArray, @LVector, @SLArra
 export @SLSliced, @LSliced
 
 export symbols, dimSymbols, rowSymbols, colSymbols
+export subset
 
 end # module
diff --git a/src/larray.jl b/src/larray.jl
index 580ba2e..ab5b208 100644
--- a/src/larray.jl
+++ b/src/larray.jl
@@ -261,3 +261,38 @@ function SLArray(v1::Union{SLArray{S,T,N,L,Syms},LArray{T,N,D,Syms}}; kwargs...)
   t2 = merge(convert(NamedTuple, v1), kwargs.data)
   SLArray{S}(t2)
 end
+
+
+@inline subset(lvec::LArray, s::Tuple{N,Symbol}) where N = subset(lvec, Val(s))
+@inline function subset(lvec::LArray{T,N,D,Syms}, ::Val{SymSub}) where {T,N,D,Syms,SymSub}
+  subArr = lvec[SVector(SymSub)]
+  #SLVector(NamedTuple{SymSub}(subArr)) # not type stable
+  LArray{T,1,D,SymSub}(subArr)
+end
+
+@inline subset(lvec::LArray, s::Tuple{N,I}) where {N,I<:Integer} = subsetInt(lvec, Val(s))
+@inline function subsetInt(lvec::LArray{T,N,D,Syms}, ::Val{SymSub}) where {T,N,D,Syms,SymSub}
+  symb = Syms[collect(SymSub)]
+  subArr = lvec[SVector(symb)]
+  LArray{T,1,D,symb}(subArr)
+end
+
+@inline subset(lvec::LArray{T,N,D,Syms}, ::Tuple{}) where {T,N,D,Syms} = 
+  LArray{T,1,D,()}(@SVector T[])
+
+
+function subset(lvec::Union{SLArray,LArray}, ind::SVector{N,I}) where {N,I <: Integer}
+  labels = symbols(lvec)[ind]
+  subset(lvec,labels)
+end
+subset(lvec::Union{SLArray,LArray}, labels::SVector{N,T}) where {N,T <: Symbol} =
+  subset(lvec,Tuple(labels))
+subset(lvec::Union{SLArray,LArray}, labels::SLArray{T,Symbol,1,N,Sym}) where {T,N,Sym} =
+  subset(lvec,Tuple(labels))
+function subset(lvec::Union{SLArray,LArray}, ind::SLArray{T,I,1,N,Sym}) where {T,I<:Integer,N,Sym} 
+  labels = symbols(lvec)[ind]
+  subset(lvec,Tuple(labels))
+end  
+
+
+ 
diff --git a/src/slarray.jl b/src/slarray.jl
index 7738ac5..f8d49bb 100644
--- a/src/slarray.jl
+++ b/src/slarray.jl
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ function Base.getindex(x::SLArray, inds::StaticVector{<:Any, Int})
 end
 
 # Note: This could in the future return an SLArray with the right names
+# see issue #59 for rather using subset to return SLVector
 function Base.getindex(x::SLArray,s::AbstractArray{Symbol,1})
     [getindex(x,si) for si in s]
 end
@@ -181,6 +182,7 @@ macro SLVector(T,syms)
   end
 end
 
+
 """
     symbols(::SLArray{T,N,D,Syms})
 
@@ -192,3 +194,48 @@ For example:
     symbols(z)  # Tuple{Symbol,Symbol,Symbol} == (:a, :b, :c)
 """
 symbols(::SLArray{S,T,N,L,Syms}) where {S,T,N,L,Syms} = Syms isa NamedTuple ? keys(Syms) : Syms
+
+
+"""
+    subset(::SLArray, indicesTuple)
+
+Creates a new SLArray containing only the given indices.
+The indices are given as a Tuple of symbols or a Tuple of Integer positions.
+
+Note, that this differs from subsetting a Labelled array by getindex or `[]`
+by retaining the labels, instead of returning an Array.
+
+It works with vectors and arrays, where each element is labelled, but not for 
+complex cases, where a label refers to several items.
+
+For example:
+
+    zs = SLVector(a=1, b=2, c=3)
+    zsSub = subset(zs, (:c,:a))
+    zsSub = subset(zs, Val((:c,:a))) # type safe version using Val()
+
+    zsSub = subset(zs, (3,1))
+    zsSub = subset(zs, @SVector[:c,:a]) # @SVector from StaticArrays
+    zsSub = subset(zs, @SVector[3,1])
+    zsSub = subset(zs, SLVector(i1=:c,i2=:a))
+    zsSub = subset(zs, SLVector(i1=3,i2=1))
+"""
+@inline subset(lvec::SLArray, s::Tuple{N,Symbol}) where N = subset(lvec, Val(s))
+@inline function subset(lvec::SLArray{S,T,N,L,Syms}, ::Val{SymSub}) where {S,T,N,L,Syms,SymSub}
+  subArr = lvec[SVector(SymSub)]
+  #SLVector(NamedTuple{SymSub}(subArr)) # not type stable
+  SLArray{Tuple{length(SymSub)},T,1,length(SymSub),SymSub}(subArr)
+end
+
+@inline subset(lvec::SLArray, s::Tuple{N,I}) where {N,I<:Integer} = subsetInt(lvec, Val(s))
+@inline function subsetInt(lvec::SLArray{S,T,N,L,Syms}, ::Val{SymSub}) where {S,T,N,L,Syms,SymSub}
+  symb = Syms[collect(SymSub)]
+  subArr = lvec[SVector(symb)]
+  SLArray{Tuple{length(SymSub)},T,1,length(SymSub),symb}(subArr)
+end
+
+@inline subset(lvec::SLArray{S,T,N,L,Syms}, ::Tuple{}) where {S,T,N,L,Syms} = 
+  SLArray{Tuple{0},T,1,0,()}( @SVector T[] )
+
+
+# for providing indices as SVector or SLVector see larrays.jl
diff --git a/test/larrays.jl b/test/larrays.jl
index 06c1e9d..8739a14 100644
--- a/test/larrays.jl
+++ b/test/larrays.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-using LabelledArrays, Test, InteractiveUtils
+using LabelledArrays, StaticArrays, Test, InteractiveUtils
 
 @testset "Basic interface" begin
     vals = [1.0,2.0,3.0] 
@@ -124,3 +124,42 @@ end
   z = @LArray [1 2; 3 4] (a = (2, :), b = 2:3)
   @test z.a == [3, 4]
 end
+
+@testset "subset" begin
+    z = @LArray [1.,2.,3.] (:a,:b,:c);
+    zSub = subset(z, (:c,:a))
+    @test zSub == @LArray [3.,1.] (:c,:a)
+    @test symbols(zSub) == (:c,:a)
+    # 
+    zSub = subset(z, (3,1))
+    @test zSub == @LArray [3.,1.] (:c,:a)
+    @test symbols(zSub) == (:c,:a)
+    #
+    ind = @SVector[3,1]  #SVector(3,1)
+    zSub = subset(z, ind)
+    @test zSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    ind = @SVector[:c,:a] #SVector(:c,:a)
+    zSub = subset(z, ind)
+    @test zSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    ind = (@SLVector (:n1,:n2))([:c,:a])
+    zSub = subset(z, ind)
+    @test zSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    ind = (@SLVector (:n1,:n2))([3,1])
+    zSub = subset(z, ind)
+    @test zSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+
+    zSub = subset(z, ())
+    @test zSub == @SVector eltype(z)[]
+
+    #zs[SVector(:c,:a)]
+    #@inferred z[SVector(:c,:a)]
+
+    #subset(z, Val((:c,:a)))
+    #@code_warntype subset(z, Val((:c,:a)))
+    @inferred subset(z, Val((:c,:a)))
+
+end
+
diff --git a/test/slarrays.jl b/test/slarrays.jl
index 270f9c4..00bf4dd 100644
--- a/test/slarrays.jl
+++ b/test/slarrays.jl
@@ -76,3 +76,44 @@ end
   z = Arr(1, 2, 3, 4)
   @test z.a == [2, 4]
 end
+
+@testset "subset" begin
+    #zs = SLVector(a=1.0,b=2.0,c=3.0,d=4.0)
+    zs = SLArray{Tuple{2,2}}(a=1.0,b=2.0,c=3.0,d=4.0); 
+    zsSub = subset(zs, (:c,:a))
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    # workaround with testing type inside subset
+    zsSub = subset(zs, (3,1))
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    @test symbols(zsSub) == (:c,:a)
+    #
+    ind = SVector(3,1)
+    zsSub = subset(zs, ind)
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    ind = SVector(:c,:a)
+    zsSub = subset(zs, ind)
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    #ind = @SLVector (:n1,:n2) (:c,:a)
+    zsSub = subset(zs, ind)
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+    #
+    ind = (@SLVector (:n1,:n2))(3,1)
+    zsSub = subset(zs, ind)
+    @test zsSub == SLVector(c=3.0,a=1.0)
+
+    zsSub = subset(zs, ())
+    #@test zsSub == SLVector()
+    @test length(zsSub) == 0
+    @test zsSub isa SLArray
+    @test symbols(zsSub) == ()
+    @test eltype(zsSub) == eltype(zs)
+
+
+    #subset(zs, Val((:c,:a)))
+    #@code_warntype subset(zs, Val((:c,:a)))
+    @inferred subset(zs, Val((:c,:a)))
+end
+