Australians have often struggled with what common laundry symbols really mean; many ruin their clothes permanently because they don’t know how to care for them properly.
Clothing usually has a label that informs the wearer what temperature the garment should be washed at, whether it is suitable for the dryer and whether it should be ironed or dry cleaned.
Vivien Fodor, laundry care expert at home appliance brand Hotpoint, recently released an expert guide on how to identify the symbols on your clothes so you can confidently care for your clothes and extend their life.
What do washing symbols on clothing mean?
“The symbol for machine washable is usually a container filled with water, with dots or numbers in it to indicate the maximum recommended temperature,” Ms Fodor revealed.
One dot indicates 30C, two dots means 40C and four dots means the garment should be washed at 60C.
The container with water has a hand on it if you have to wash something by hand, and a large cross if it can only be taken to the dry cleaners.
The symbol for machine washable is usually a container filled with water, with dots or numbers on the inside to indicate the maximum recommended temperature
What do drying symbols on clothing mean?
‘The tumble dry symbol is a circle within a square, which indicates that the garment is safe to tumble dry unless there is a cross over the square, which means the garment is not safe to machine dry Mrs. Fodor said.
As with washing machines, the dots in the drying symbol also indicate the temperature: one dot for low heat, two for medium heat, three for high heat.
Ms Fodor added: ‘No dot indicates that you can dry your clothes in the dryer without damage, regardless of the heat.’
The tumble drying symbol is a circle within a square, with dots indicating the temperature
What do ironing symbols on clothing mean?
Washing labels with ironing instructions show an iron symbol with dots for the temperature setting.
No dots indicate that the clothes can be safely ironed at any temperature.
‘Delicate garments usually have one dot, which means a maximum temperature of 110 degrees Celsius, while synthetic fabrics have a two indicating they can be ironed at 150 degrees Celsius, and cotton clothes usually have three dots that can withstand 200 degrees Celsius ‘, says Mrs. Fodor.
No dots indicate that the clothes can be safely ironed at any temperature
iPhone users who have updated their phones to iOS 17 will also find that the brand new ‘Visual Look Up’ tool can impressively decipher laundry symbols
iPhone users who have updated their phones to iOS 17 will also find that the brand new ‘Visual Look Up’ tool does an impressive job of deciphering laundry symbols.
To use the washing function, simply take a photo of the label on your item, with the symbols clearly visible.
Then go to the Photos app, click on the photo and swipe up or tap the ‘info’ symbol at the bottom.
There is then an option to press ‘Look up laundry care’ below the text field.
Pressing it takes you to a list of websites found by Siri that explains what each symbol means.