Decoding Laundry Symbols: A Comprehensive Guide
Laundry symbols – those small icons on clothing tags that seem to communicate in a secret language. Often overlooked, deciphering them can be as challenging as solving a puzzle. In this guide, let’s unravel the enigma and delve into the practical meanings behind these symbols to ensure your cherished garments remain wearable for longer.
This universal washing machine symbol signifies that your clothes can be laundered in a machine.
Sounds straightforward, right? Well, not quite. This symbol can be accompanied by a multitude of other symbols both inside and around it, but we’ll explore those in a bit.
Ever wondered about the meaning of the circle in a square?
Less obviously, it indicates that your garment is suitable for tumble drying. This symbol can also be accompanied by other features, allowing you to choose the right setting for the best condition of your clothes.
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Yes, you guessed it right.
The little iron symbol means you are allowed to iron the garment (or simply hang it in your wardrobe and hope it irons itself).
The dot system helps you determine the recommended heat settings for your clothing.
These dots can be found inside any of the symbols above, and it’s not as complicated as it may seem. The more dots you have, the higher the heat settings. For example, a washing machine symbol containing one dot means wash in cold water (30 degrees), two dots mean wash in warm water (40 degrees), and three dots mean wash in hot water (60 degrees). The same applies to tumble drying and ironing; fewer dots mean less heat. As a fun fact, most irons use the dot system on their dial, so you never have to worry about turning your favorite shirt into a crispy mess. Just match the garment dots to the dots on the iron, and you too can be an ironing pro.
Another addition to the above symbols can be one or two lines underneath them.
This system contributes to the delicacy of the garment, with one line meaning ‘synthetics’ and two lines meaning ‘delicate/wool’. Most modern washing machines and tumble dryers have these settings built-in. To keep your clothes lasting as long as possible and feeling super fresh, wash all of your synthetics together and all of your delicates together on the correct setting.
Ever seen any of the above symbols with crosses through them?
These are among the most important – DO NOT machine wash, tumble dry, or iron your garments if the symbol has a cross through it. It may not ruin your clothes if you do, but it can drastically decrease their longevity, so it’s best to follow the rules.
Of course, a triangle means you can add bleach, why wouldn’t it?
If you see an empty triangle, this means you can safely use bleach on your clothing. The cross convention also applies to bleaching – if the triangle has a cross through it, then do not use bleach, and if you see a triangle with two diagonal lines inside, then use non-chlorine bleach only.
For those of us who are fancy enough…
A simple circle means dry clean only, and a circle with a cross through it means do not dry clean (phew). There are a few other variations of the dry cleaning symbol, as indicated above, however, I would leave these to your dry cleaner to decipher!
Hopefully, this guide can help you become a laundry master too. Or, if you’d rather not think about laundry, you can leave it to our friendly team at Laundro. We decipher all the codes for you and leave your clothes feeling and smelling fresh every time.
Visit www.laundro.co.uk to discover the ease of laundry with us.