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Laundry Symbol Decoder.

Every care symbol from both standards, with what it means for the garment and what happens if it is ignored. Tap a symbol, or narrow the chart down by what you can see on the tag.

Find the symbol on your label

Browse the whole chart, or narrow it down by what you can actually see on the tag.

How do you want to find it

All 61 symbols, grouped in the order they are printed on a label.

Which standard

Symbols defined by both standards stay visible under either filter.

Plain English is fine. Shape words, dot and bar counts, letters, or what you think it means.

Turn this on before printing if you want the complete reference rather than the chart alone.

Showing all 61 symbols.

The full chart

61 symbols across both standards. Select one for the full explanation, or turn on the full explanation above and print the lot.

Washing

washtub · 24 symbols

Everything about the wash itself — water temperature, how hard the machine may agitate, and whether the garment may go in a machine at all.

Bleaching

triangle · 4 symbols

Whether bleach may be used, and if so which kind. The distinction between chlorine and oxygen bleach is the whole point of this family.

Drying

square · 16 symbols

Two sets share the square: a circle inside it is tumble drying, lines inside it are natural drying.

Ironing

iron · 6 symbols

Maximum soleplate temperature, and whether steam is allowed.

Professional textile care

circle · 11 symbols

Instructions addressed to a cleaner, not to you. The letter inside the circle names the solvent or process they must use.

How to read a care label

Both standards print the symbols in the same fixed order, left to right. Position alone will tell you which family a symbol belongs to when the print is too worn to make out.

  1. Position 1: the washtubWashing. The washtub comes first. It is always the leftmost symbol on a compliant label.
  2. Position 2: the triangleBleaching. The triangle comes second. If there is no triangle at all, the label is silent on bleaching rather than permitting it.
  3. Position 3: the squareDrying. The square comes third. A circle inside it is tumble drying; lines inside it are natural drying. A label may carry one of each.
  4. Position 4: the ironIroning. The iron comes fourth.
  5. Position 5: the circleProfessional textile care. The circle comes last, and it is addressed to a cleaner rather than to you.

Rules that hold across the whole chart

An X always means do not
A cross through any symbol prohibits that process. It never means "with care" and it never means "optional".
Bars underneath always mean be gentler
One bar is a reduced mechanical action, two bars a much reduced one. The bar never changes the temperature — only how hard the machine may work.
Dots mean temperature, but on three different scales
Dots in a washtub, dots in an iron and dots in a drying square are three separate scales. Two dots in an iron is 150 °C; two dots in a tub is a 40 °C wash. They are not interchangeable.
A number in the tub is European, dots in the tub are North American
ISO 3758 prints the wash temperature as a number. ASTM D5489 prints it as dots. A garment sold in both markets often carries the number, because the number is unambiguous either way.
A stated temperature is a ceiling, not a target
Every temperature on a care label is a maximum. Washing, drying or ironing cooler is always permitted, and is almost always kinder to the garment.
A missing symbol is not permission
Labels only carry the symbols the maker chose to print. Where a family is absent, the safe reading is the gentler one — not that anything goes.

Common questions

What is the difference between the European and North American laundry symbols?

They are two separate standards. ISO 3758, the GINETEX code, is used in Europe, the UK and most of the world, and prints the wash temperature as a number inside the tub. ASTM D5489 is used in the United States and Canada, and prints the same information as dots inside the tub. ASTM also puts bars under the tumble-dry square, which ISO does not, and defines a three-dot high-heat tumble setting and a solid-circle no-heat setting that ISO has no equivalent for. The letter A in the professional-care circle is current under ASTM and withdrawn under ISO.

What does a square with a circle inside it mean?

It means tumble drying. Dots inside the circle set the heat: one dot is low, two dots is normal under ISO 3758 and medium under ASTM D5489, and three dots is high under ASTM only. A solid black circle means tumble dry with no heat at all, and is an ASTM symbol. If the whole thing is crossed out, the garment must not go in a tumble dryer.

What do the dots on laundry symbols mean?

Dots always mean temperature, but they run on three separate scales depending on which shape they sit in. In a washtub they are the water temperature, from one dot at 30 °C up to six dots at 95 °C. In an iron they are the soleplate temperature: one dot is 110 °C, two is 150 °C, three is 200 °C. In a tumble-dry square they are the dryer heat setting. Two dots in an iron and two dots in a tub mean completely different things.

What do the bars under a laundry symbol mean?

A bar means a gentler mechanical action, never a different temperature. One bar is the reduced or permanent-press cycle: less agitation, a slower spin, a cool-down rinse. Two bars is the delicate or wool cycle, with minimal agitation and a low spin. Bars appear under the washtub in both standards, under the professional-care circle in both, and under the tumble-dry square in ASTM D5489 only.

What does a triangle with two lines through it mean?

Non-chlorine bleach only. Oxygen or colour-safe bleach may be used; chlorine bleach may not. It is the most commonly misread symbol on a care label because a striped triangle looks permissive. Chlorine bleach on this symbol attacks the dye rather than the stain, and on dyed cotton the result is a permanent orange or white patch.

What does the letter P in a circle mean on a clothing label?

It is an instruction to a professional cleaner. Under ISO 3758 it means dry cleaning in tetrachloroethylene, also called perchloroethylene, and in the solvents listed for F. Under ASTM D5489 it means dry cleaning in any solvent except trichloroethylene. A bar underneath means a mild process. It is not an instruction you can carry out at home — domestic dry-cleaning kits are a heat-and-steam refresh, not a solvent clean.

What is the difference between line dry, drip dry and dry flat?

Line dry, a square with one vertical line under ISO 3758 or a curved line under ASTM D5489, means hang the garment up after a normal spin. Drip dry, a square with three vertical lines, means hang it dripping wet without spinning or wringing, so the weight of the water pulls creases out. Dry flat, a square with one horizontal line, means lay it out on a flat surface and reshape it — this is the knitwear instruction, because a wet knit hung on a line stretches under its own weight and sets in the stretched shape.

Does a crossed-out iron mean I cannot steam the garment either?

Yes, a crossed-out iron rules out ironing and pressing altogether. The separate symbol showing an iron with crossed-out steam lines beneath it is different: it permits ironing and forbids steam. That one is frequently misread as do-not-iron when it actually says iron dry, at whatever temperature the dots on the iron allow.

What does the diagonal stripe in the corner of a drying square mean?

It means dry in the shade, out of direct sunlight, and it combines with whichever drying instruction the square already carries. ISO 3758 draws it as a single diagonal stripe across the upper-left corner; ASTM D5489 draws it as two diagonal lines. Ultraviolet light breaks down dye, and because only the exposed face fades, a sun-dried garment often ends up two shades.

What order are laundry symbols printed in?

Both standards use the same fixed order, left to right: washing (tub), bleaching (triangle), drying (square), ironing (iron), then professional textile care (circle). Position is useful when the print is worn — a symbol at the far left of the row is a washing instruction even if you cannot make out the shape.