It's an early Saturday morning, and in the midst of rushing kids to get ready for soccer games, and dance competitions, you decide to be proactive in your day and start a load of the dreaded dirty laundry piling up.
But of course, it can’t be easy. Every article seems to have its own set of weird hieroglyphics on the tag and they all seem to be important and mean something—but what?! What do moms have to force themselves to remember now?
Don’t worry, we’ll make it as easy as possible. We’ve created a cheat sheet and visual guide to help take all of the question marks out of the equation.
Before we dive into the details, here's a quick cheat sheet to clothing tag symbols:
Wash bowl and water = washing
Triangle = bleaching
Square = drying
Iron = ironing, duh
Circle = dry cleaning required
Washing Symbols
The wash bowl and water symbols act as basic washing instructions. Of course, if the wash bowl has an X through it, that means the garment should not be machine washed at all.
Water Temperature
There are two ways that water temperature is indicated on clothing tags. One is through numbers, specifically the numbers 30, 40, 50 and 60. Those refer to the maximum recommended water temperature for the garment, but in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. These temperatures should be considered the maximum recommended for safely washing that garment.
The other indicator of water temperature is the number of dots inside the basin. The number of dots gives a fairly specific temperature guide, if you know how to interpret it. We’ve translated the numbers into Fahrenheit for easy reading.
Wash basin with no line under it: item can be washed
Wash basin with one dot: wash in cold water; around 85°F
Wash basin with two dots: wash in warm water; 105°F
Wash basin with five dots: wash in hot water; 120°F
Wash basin with one line under: Permanent Press cycle
Wash basin with two lines under it: Gentle or Delicate cycle
Wash basin with an X symbol: item should not be washed at all
Wash basin symbol with hand: Handwash Only
Bleach Symbols
If there is a triangle on the item's label, that is a reference to bleach.
An empty triangle: bleach can be used
A triangle with two parallel lines inside: only non-chlorine bleach
A triangle with a cross through it: Do not use bleach on that item
Dry Symbols
When squinting at the laundry tag and trying to translate the laundering code, look for a square with a circle in it. This tells you it's okay to machine dry the item. Like with the washing instructions, the number of dots inside the square indicate drying temperature.
If the tag on your item has a square, but no circle, that means it should not be tucked in the dryer, but instead left to air-dry. Luckily, there are symbols to help air dry the time in the correct manner.
One curved line in square: line dry
Three vertical lines in square: hang to dry
Two diagonal lines in square with curved line: dry out of direct sunlight
One horizontal line in square: lay flat to dry
Circle in square: tumble dry with any heat
Filled circle in square: tumble dry with no heat
Circle in square with two dots: tumble dry on medium heat
Circle in square with three dots: tumble dry on high heat
Circle in square with X through it: do not tumble dry
Circle in square with one dot: tumble dry on low heat
Iron Symbols
If the tag has the symbol of an iron on it, that means the garment can be ironed. If the iron has an X through it, do not iron. Like with the washing and drying instructions, look for dots to indicate the temperature for the iron. We’ve also done these Celsius to Fahrenheit conversions for you.
Iron symbol: iron on any temp
One dot: cool iron; around 230°F
Two dots: medium iron; around 300°F
Three dots: hot iron; around 390°F
Iron with an X under it: steam function should be turned off
Iron Symbol with an X through it: do not iron
Dry Cleaning
If your clothing tag has a circle (sometimes shown as a circle inside a square), that means that an item should be only be cleaned by the professionals. If the tag has a circle with an X through it, that means it should not be dry cleaned.
Circle: dry clean only
Circle with line on bottom right corner: dry clean on low heat
Circle with line on top right corner: dry clean with no steam
Circle with an X through it: do not dry clean
Circle with line on bottom left: dry clean short cycle
Circle with line on top left: dry clean with reduced moisture
That was a lot of information thrown at you. We get it. It's a lot. And nobody wants to remember all these things. Who has time to learn another language and adhere to all of its funky rules? Most of us don't. Hopefully you see the value in trusting your garments to professionals now. It is not all about the convenience factor, although that definitely helps. Fluff & Fold is a service that not only frees up some time in your busy schedule, but also adds an extra element of care to your belongings. Keeping them looking newer, cleaner, and fresher longer. Protect your investments in your wardrobe by allowing professionals to do their thing and leave you looking your best!
Comments