Washing instructions for clothes (signs, icons and symbols)

Label on clothing Not everyone pays attention to the labels on clothing. Many don't even realize they contain useful information. Manufacturers use symbols on clothing labels that provide information about the material the garment is made of, care instructions, washing temperature, tumble dryability, ironability, and so on.

Following all these tips will extend the life of your clothing, preserving the fabric's properties and color for a long time. However, failing to follow the manufacturer's recommendations can permanently damage the item.

Naturally, the symbols on laundry labels may not be clear to everyone. We weren't taught in school what each symbol on the label of the item we bought meant. And although some of the icons may be intuitively clear to us, it is better to make sure that our guesses are correct and carefully study the decoding of the symbols, which we will provide below.

Symbols on clothing labels for washing

	A sign with a crossed-out container of water means that this item cannot be washed.
	The same container with water and a palm in it indicates that this material is suitable for hand washing only.
	Again, the same container of water, without any additional details, indicates that this item of clothing can be washed both by hand and in a washing machine.
	The same symbol, with a horizontal line underneath, advises using a gentle wash and a light spin cycle.
	The same design with two horizontal lines at the bottom strongly recommends that we use only a delicate cycle for washing this item and prohibits hand wringing.
	You may also see various numerical values on the water container itself. For example: 40, 60, 80, etc. These numbers limit the maximum washing temperature.
	If you see 95 as the number on the icon, the material the item is made of can be washed at various temperatures and boiled. These garments are not picky.
	The triangle on the label tells us that you can use bleach on this fabric.
	A triangle with a cross through it is often found on items made of colored fabric. It indicates that bleach should not be used on this item of clothing.

Symbols on clothes drying labels

Proper clothing care involves not only washing clothes properly, using the appropriate temperature for the fabric type, but also drying them correctly. Therefore, we'll also cover the topic of proper drying.

Let's not waste any more time and get straight to the point:

	The square symbol on the label tells us that you can dry this item using the tumble dryer program (if this is included in the functionality of your household appliance).
	The square symbol with a cross through it, as you might guess, prohibits automatic machine drying.
	If you notice an infinity symbol (aka an "8" on its side) inside the square, you should know that you can't spin-dry the fabric. You'll have to turn off the spin cycle in your washing machine and simply hang the wet item to drain. It will dry, it just takes longer.
	If there is a circle in the middle of the square sign, you can consider this as permission to machine spin and dry.
	If you find the same symbol, but crossed out, then, as you may have guessed, machine spinning and drying are highly not recommended.
	If you see a familiar square with a circle inside, but now it has one dot nestled comfortably inside, then you can only dry this item at low temperatures.
	The same sign, only with two dots (resembling a rosette), gives permission to dry the fabric even at high temperatures.
	If you see a horizontal line under the square icon with a circle inside, you need to use a gentle drying cycle.
	Again, the same symbol, only instead of one line, there are two. This means that this fabric should only be dried on a delicate setting.
	If there are 3 vertical lines in the middle of the square, we are not prohibited from drying the item, but we should avoid spinning.
	A square with a curved line inside indicates that the item can be dried vertically.
	A square image with a minus sign recommends drying the item horizontally.
	A square with three diagonal lines in its upper left corner indicates that we need to dry the item in the shade.