We have all noticed the little tag that we always find in any type of clothing that we purchase. Care labels are usually found stitched near the collar of shirts and around the inner stitches of any type of clothing that one may purchase and they carry various care symbols. These act like manuals that our clothes come with so that we know how to properly take care of them and maintain them for future use.

The care label symbols tell us how to wash, iron and take other measures to make sure that we get the most out of our clothing items. We will take a deeper look into the signs and care symbols that are associated with different care labels for different types of cloth to give you a better idea about how to interpret them.

Care label symbols can vary for every country and each country has their own standards and a range of symbols. However, most of the countries have quite similar care symbols for their labels which make it easy for you to understand them at a universal level.

Different Care Symbols and What They Indicate

The Basin Symbol

The basin symbol indicates two things about the process of taking care of your clothing. It tells you what the ideal temperature to wash your clothes is and the method that you should use while washing them.

The washing temperature is denoted by dots on a care symbol of a basin. Inside the basin symbol you will find one dot or a number of them placed together. The number of dots that you find inside the care symbol of a basin indicates the temperature that the water that is used to wash the clothes should be. You will either find one, two or three dots. One dot indicates that the cloth should be washed at 30 degree or less temperature. Two dots indicate that it should be washed at 40 degrees or lesser temperature and three dots indicate that you can wash the cloth at 50 degrees or lesser than that for the most optimal wash.

The washing method uses the basin care symbol along with a few tweaks to each symbol of basin to denote a different kind of wash. Let us take a look at what these different symbols look like and what they mean.

1.      A crossed off basin symbol

A crossed off basin symbol denotes that the cloth is not meant to be washed at all

2.      Basin symbol

A simple basin symbol without any addition whatsoever may mean that the cloth is best suited for machine wash

3.      Basin symbol with a hand inside

A basin symbol with a hand inside the symbol means that the cloth is supposed to be hand washed.

4.      Basin symbol with a line drawn parallelly at the bottom

A basin symbol with a line drawn parallelly at the bottom denotes to a permanent pressing cycle. It means we should opt for a washing setting that is meant to minimize the wrinkling of the clothing

5.      Basin symbol with two parallel line drawn at the bottom

A basin symbol with two parallel lines drawn at the bottom denotes that the cloth requires a gentle wash. These can be found in materials that can be easily subjected to wear and tear if a normal washing cycle is utilized.

The Square Care Symbol

The square symbol denotes how you should approach drying a garment after it has been washed. Some of the types of square symbol and their meanings are as follows:

1.      Circle within a crossed off square

This sign is called “Do not tumble”. These clothes could not be dried using the tumble method.

2.      Circle within a square

This symbol is called “Tumble Dry”. It indicates that tumble dry will be effective for the clothing with this in their care label

3.      Dotted circle within a square

This symbol is called “tumble dry” and you will find three variations of it. You will find them with one, two and three dots within the circle which indicates the heat just like the basin symbol that we discussed above. The single dot represents low heat, double dot represents medium heat and triple dot represents high heat.  

Iron care label symbols

The iron symbol tells you what ironing setting you should go for to sustain clothes for longer periods of time. The iron symbols and their meanings are as follows:

1.      Crossed off iron : This symbol indicates that the cloth do not need to be ironed at all

2.      Iron with dots: This symbol has three versions and the number of dots present here indicates different levels of heat at which you should iron your clothing.

A)     A single dot inside the iron indicates that you should iron it at the lowest setting

B)     Two dots inside the iron indicates that  you should iron the clothing at a medium heat setting

C)     Three dots inside the iron indicates that  you should iron the clothing at a high heat setting

3.      Iron with three lines at the bottom : This symbol indicates that you can use steam to iron the clothing

4.      Crossed off iron with three lines at the bottom : This symbol indicates that you should not use steam for ironing the clothing

The Circle Symbol

The circle symbol is associated with clothing that needs dry cleaning. Clothing that needs dry cleaning usually comes with written instructions recommending so but there are mainly 4 types of symbols that specifically tell you how to dry clean clothes.

1.      Circle with a line at the bottom: This symbol indicates that you should use delicates while dry cleaning the clothing

2.      Circle with two lines drawn at the bottom: This symbol indicates that you should use very delicate chemicals when dry cleaning the clothing

3.      Circle with a W written inside it: This symbol indicates that you should wet wash the clothing

4.      Circle with a A written inside it: This symbol indicates that you can use any solvent for washing the clothing

The Triangle Symbol

The triangle care symbol indicates the criteria for using bleach for the particular clothing. Bleach is used by a lot of people as it is an excellent aid in cleaning off stubborn stains. There are mainly three symbols associated with the use of bleach in care labels.

Crossed off triangle: This symbol indicates that the clothing is not suited for bleaching.

Triangle with two lines inside: This symbol indicates that you should only use oxygen bleach for the clothing

Triangle: The triangle symbol indicates that you can opt for oxygen bleach or chlorine bleach to clean your clothing.

Care label symbols are useful indications for the consumer as it allows you to know what is best to keep your clothing in good condition for an extended amount of time. The next time you are perplexed about the right way to clean your clothing, refer to this article of ours and we are sure that you will get all the answers you need.