How to Read a Care Label (Without Ruining Anything)

Care labels look like a secret code, but there are really only five symbols and each one means the same thing every time.

The five symbols

The tub is washing. A number inside is the maximum temperature. A hand in the tub means hand wash only. A line underneath means a gentle cycle; two lines mean very gentle. A cross through it means don’t wash it in water at all.

The triangle is bleach. Empty means bleach is fine. Diagonal lines inside mean non-chlorine bleach only. Crossed out means no bleach.

The square is drying. A circle inside is tumble drying. Dots indicate heat, one for low, two for medium. Crossed out means don’t tumble dry. A horizontal line inside the square means dry flat, which matters enormously for knitwear.

The iron is ironing, and the dots are heat again: one dot for synthetics, three for cotton and linen. Crossed out means don’t.

The circle is professional cleaning. This is the one for us. A letter inside tells the cleaner which solvent to use. A P or an F means dry clean. A W means professional wet cleaning. Crossed out means it can’t be professionally cleaned at all.

The three people get wrong most

“Dry clean only” isn’t always literal. Manufacturers apply it defensively. It’s still the safest instruction to follow, but if something says dry clean only and you’re unsure, ask us rather than assuming it’s ruined either way.

The dots on the iron are not suggestions. One dot on a synthetic means low. Ironing polyester at cotton heat doesn’t scorch it, it melts it, and there’s no fixing that.

Dry flat means dry flat. Hanging a wet wool jumper stretches it permanently under its own weight. That square with a line in it is doing real work.

When the label is missing or unreadable

Bring the item in and we’ll identify the fibre. That’s most of what a label tells us anyway. The rest is judgement, and judgement is the part we’re actually paid for.