Washing symbols: What are they, and what do they mean?
If you look at a label on an item of clothing, you’ll usually see a series of symbols. These indicate the manufacturer’s recommendations for washing, drying and ironing.
Laundry codes fall into five categories:
1.
Washing symbols: a tub of water.
2.
Bleaching symbols: a triangle.
3.
Dry cleaning symbols: a circle.
4.
Drying symbols: a square.
5.
Ironing symbols: an iron containing dots.
Washing symbols
Washing label symbols tell you whether to dry clean your clothes, wash them by hand, or put them in the washing machine. They also indicate what temperature to wash your garments at.
You’ll likely come across the following:
Handwashing symbols
- Hand wash: a basin with one hand inside means you should wash your garment by hand.
- Do not wring: a piece of twisted fabric with a cross through the middle means you shouldn’t wring out your clothing.
Washing machine symbols
- Do not machine wash: a tub of water with a cross through the middle. If you see this, it means your clothing should be dry cleaned rather than washed in the washing machine. It’s usually followed by further cleaning instructions.
- Machine washable: a tub of water indicates your garment is machine washable and can be spun and rinsed normally.
- Machine wash, permanent press: a tub of water with one line underneath means the spin speed should be reduced when washing this item.
- Machine wash, delicate cycle: a tub of water with two lines under it means you should use a delicate cycle to wash your clothing.
Washing temperature symbols
Washing symbols often contain numbers, which tell you what temperature you should use to clean your clothes.
- Wash at or up to 30°C: a tub of water containing 30°C indicates that your clothing can be machine washed, but only at a low temperature.
- Wash at or up to 40°C: a tub of water containing 40°C means that your garment needs to be washed on a warm cycle.
- Wash at or up to 50°C: a tub of water containing 50°C indicates that your clothing can be washed up to a maximum temperature of 50°C.
- Wash at or up to 60°C: a tub of water containing 60°C means that your clothing requires a hot wash.
- Wash at or up to 70°C: a tub of water containing 70°C indicates that your clothing can be washed up to a maximum temperature of 70°C.
- Wash at or up to 95°C: a tub of water containing 95°C means that your garment can withstand an extra-hot wash.
Bleaching symbols
Bleaching symbols typically come after washing symbols on garment care labels. You might see one of these:
- Bleaching allowed: an empty triangle washing symbol means that it’s safe to bleach your clothing.
- Do not bleach: a crossed-out triangle indicates that your garment should not be bleached.
- Bleaching with chlorine allowed: a triangle containing ‘CL’ means that chlorine bleach can be used on your clothing.
- Use non-chlorine bleach only: if you see two diagonal lines inside a triangle, the item can be bleached using non-chlorine products.
Drying symbols
Drying symbols indicate whether your garment should be air or tumble-dried and at what temperature.
- Tumble drying allowed: a square with a circle in the centre means your clothing can go in the tumble dryer. You may also see one, two, or three dots inside the circle, which indicate that your clothing should be dried on low, medium, or high heat.
- Do not tumble dry: the sign for do not tumble dry is a square with a crossed-out circle in the middle.
- Air dry: a plain square without a circle means you should air-dry your garment.
Dry cleaning symbols
Wondering if your clothes should be dry-cleaned? Check for these symbols:
- Dry cleaning allowed: an empty circle means that the clothing is suitable for dry cleaning.
- Do not dry clean: the no-dry-clean symbol is a circle with a cross through the middle.
- Dry clean with any solvent: a circle with the letter ‘A’ in the middle means your garment can be dry cleaned with any cleaning solvent.
- Dry clean with perchloroethylene (PCE): a circle with a ‘P’ inside means your clothing can be dry cleaned with PCE or petroleum-based solvents.
- Dry clean with petroleum-based solvents: a circle with the letter ‘F’ inside indicates your garment should only be cleaned with petroleum-based solvents.
- Professional wet clean: a circle with a ‘W’ inside means the garment should only be professionally wet cleaned.
- Professional wet cleaning is not allowed: a crossed-out circle with a ‘W’ inside means that professional wet cleaning is not permitted.
You may spot one or two lines underneath some dry-cleaning symbols. This means the item requires a gentle or extra-gentle clean.
Ironing symbols
Pay attention to these symbols to avoid damaging your clothes while ironing them:
- Ironing is allowed: a basic iron symbol means you can use an iron on your garment.
- Do not iron: a crossed-out iron means that you should not iron your clothing, as you may damage the fabric.
- Do not steam iron: an iron with crossed-out steam means the garment isn’t suitable for steam ironing.
Ironing temperature symbols
It’s also important to know what temperature should be used to iron your clothes. Look for one of these symbols:
- Iron on low heat: an iron with one dot means you should iron your clothing at a maximum temperature of 110°C.
- Iron on medium heat: two dots indicate you should iron your clothing at a maximum temperature of 150°C.
- Iron on high heat: if you see an iron with three dots, you can use a higher temperature (up to 200°C).
With our guide to British laundry symbols, you can wash and dry your clothes without worrying about damaging them.
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