Care label
Also called: care labelling, laundry symbols
The standardised pictogram label stating the most severe treatment a textile will survive without irreversible damage — a ceiling, not a recommendation.
A care label carries standardised pictograms describing permitted care treatments. The symbols are trademarks of GINETEX, the International Association for Textile Care Labelling, and their system is the origin of the international standard ISO 3758.
Five basic shapes each own one process:
| Shape | Process |
|---|---|
| Washtub | Domestic washing |
| Triangle | Bleaching |
| Square | Drying |
| Iron | Ironing |
| Circle | Professional textile care — dry cleaning and professional wet cleaning |
Dots and numbers set temperature ceilings, bars underneath call for gentler mechanical action, and a cross through a symbol forbids that process.
The standard’s own definition is the part worth remembering: a label states the most severe treatment that does not cause irreversible damage. It is a limit, not advice. A label permitting 40 °C is not recommending 40 °C; it is marking the point beyond which the maker will not stand behind the fabric.
The 2023 revision of ISO 3758 redrew several symbols — hand wash, do not wash, do not bleach, do not iron — to align with the GINETEX versions, so labels of different ages can look slightly different while meaning the same thing.
For upholstery the circle is usually the operative symbol, since most upholstery is not going in a machine. Where a care label and a cleaning code disagree, the more restrictive governs.