Understanding laundry symbols ensures your clothes are washed, dried, and ironed correctly and help them last longer. To make laundry day easier, we’ve created a free printable laundry symbols chart that you can hang in your laundry room for quick reference.
LAUNDRY SYMBOLS
Do you ever find yourself staring at your clothing tags, wondering what those little laundry symbols mean? You’re not alone! Understanding laundry care symbols can help extend the life of your clothes and prevent shrinkage, fading, or damage.
For your convivence, in this guide we will break down common laundry symbols so you can wash, dry, iron, and care for your garments with confidence.
WHAT ARE LAUNDRY SYMBOLS?
A laundry symbol, is a pictogram which represents the method of washing that an article of clothing needs for best results. It is based on the color, type of fabric and weave of the fabric and you can find them on most clothing labels.
LAUNDRY SYMBOLS MEANING
- Washing: If you see that a washtub is shown, and a number inside of the tub is the maximum washing temperature measured in degrees Celsius. One bar under the tub signifies a gentler washing machine cycle. A double bar signifies very gentle handling. A hand in the tub means that only hand washing should be used on this garment.. A cross through washtub means that the textile may not be washed under normal household conditions.
- Bleaching: A triangle means that bleaching is okay with both a chlorine and a non-chlorine bleach. If you see two oblique lines in the triangle means that bleaching with chlorine based bleach is prohibited. A crossed triangle prohibits any bleaching.
- Drying: A circle in the square symbolizes drying clothes in the clothes dryer. One dot requires drying at reduced temperature and two dots for normal temperature. The crossed symbol means that the clothing should not be dried in the dryer machine and should just air dry.
- Professional Dry Cleaning: A circle is an identification of professional cleaning. A bar under the symbol means clean gently, and two bars means very gentle cleaning by a professional cleaner.
- Ironing: The iron symbol represents how to iron the article. The iron symbol with up to three dots means that it can be ironed. Did you know, that the number of dots relate to the temperature of the iron? If it shows one dot it prescribes less than 110°C, if it shows two dots, it prescribes for up to 150°C and three for up to 200° degrees C. An iron with a cross means that ironing should not be done on this article of clothing.
LAUNDRY SYMBOLS CHART
To grab a copy of the laundry symbols chart for your laundry room, simply click on the button below.
LAUNDRY ROOM SUPPLIES
Below is a list of some of our favorite items to use in our laundry room!
- Glass jars
- spray bottles
- dryer balls
- metal laundry basket
- laundry sorter
- white frame
- laundry detergent
- laundry dryer sheets
- ironing board
- iron
- stain remover
- portable clothes steamer
That was brilliant and so helpful! Thank you!
Megann
So glad it was helpful!
A framed reference would be so cute to have in my laundry room! I learned laundry symbols in middle school home ec, and they stuck with me for some reason. Always good to have a refresher though!
I love the printable laundry symbols chart. I think framing it makes it cute useful decor as well!
Totally grabbing one for my laundry room- thanks! This would also be a fun graduation gift along with a roll of quarters and some laundry detergent.
Becca- What a great graduation gift idea…lol!
Thank you for sharing this!! I definitely need this in my laundry room! Sometimes, I look at those symbols & wished I knew what they meant!
Kristyn- So glad you found this helpful!
This is a nifty little chart of symbols and summaries. I wish I had it years ago. Before I started working at a custom clothing label company, I had long wondered what some of the symbols on my clothes were. At the same time, It had never really occurred to me just how many rules there are for the information and placement of laundry labels on clothes.
Thanks for sharing! Where did you get your soap pump dispenser? So cute!
Kellie- I think I got it at Home Goods years ago.