The care tags are very small, but in reality they are trying to convey very important instructions. Can you believe that even they were standardized? Gentex is in France and the other 22 countries while America got their care tags standardized from FTC and ATSM. Both of them are more or less the same. There are five of them which are listed as below. There are more particular symbols under these also:
- Washing
The muffin-like symbols indicate washing. However, the small difference exists between the American standardization and that of France. In the case of American standardization, the two dots are the indication of the correct temperature. Sometimes, there is also a number written which indicates that number to be the perfect temperature. The single line beneath the muffin shape means that you need to set the washer for easy care. On the other hand, two lines underneath the muffin suggest you set the washer for a very mild wash. The one symbol with fingers under the muffin means that that cloth needs to be washed only by your hands and not in the washer.
- Bleaching
The triangle symbol indicates bleaching. The triangle symbol with one line means that only oxygen bleach, including sodium percarbonate such as Oxy Clean, can be done on that specific cloth rather than chlorine bleach. The symbol with a cross on the triangle means that the bleach should not be done.
- Drying
The drying is portrayed through a square. Two types of drying are machine drying and natural drying. The square symbol with a circle with two dots means that machine drying is allowed without any consequences. The square symbol with a circle which has a dot in the center means mild drying. Only three vertical lines in square show line drying while only one horizontal line delineates flat drying. Two diagonal lines in the top left corner of the square convey natural drying.
- Ironing
The line diagram of iron suggests ironing. The number of dots indicates the temperature that you are supposed to use on your clothes. The three dots in the iron symbol mean hot temperature, two dots show moderate temperature and one dot portray low temperature. If there is a cross mark upon the iron symbol, you should not iron that cloth of yours.
- Professional textile care
A circle indicates dry cleaning. It is further classified into dry cleaning and wet cleaning. The laundry where you give your clothes for dry cleaning should know from these labels what to do and what not to do with your clothes. But if they do not know, your clothes can be damaged forever. So, it is your responsibility to ensure whether they have knowledge and fluency in care tag labels.
A very significant thing to be remembered is that these clothing Care labels show the maximum tolerance of your cloth material. In essence, you should not follow everything literally from the clothing care tags but as a guideline only to what kind of treatment will make your clothes look perfect and like new. We all know that all clothes are going to tear apart after years. But your care, awareness about clothing care tags might add a few months to your life. Thus, even you should be fluent in reading care tags. Depending on the country, the symbols might be a bit different. Hence, go ahead and memorize these clothing care tags’ meanings if you truly love to keep your clothes for the most time possible.