Laundry Notes

So you’re about to start your laundry and are checking the symbols on the tag to ensure you get the best wear out of your garments. What does a green box with circle mean? A yellow triangle? Check out our tips to help you keep it all straight.

The five basic symbols you will see on your clothing tags are a wash tub (washing/laundering instruction), a triangle (bleaching instructions), a square (drying instructions), an iron (ironing/pressing instructions) and a circle (dry-cleaning instructions).

Green: anything in green means that there are no special precautions needed.
Yellow: use the delicate cycle
Red: STOP! Do not wash this garment.

A wash tub with a number in it tells you what the water temperature should be i.e. 60 in a green tub is machine wash in warm water, 30 in a yellow tub is cold water and the gentle cycle. A hand in the tub means to hand wash the garment and if there is an ‘X’ through the wash tub symbol it means do not put the garment in the washing machine.

Whatever is inside the square tells you what you need to know for drying your garments. If there is a circle inside the square, the garment can go into the dryer (green at regular temperature, yellow at low). A half-circle at the top of the square means to line dry the garment and a flat line in the middle of the square means to lay the garment flat to dry. Three vertical lines in the square mean let the garment drip dry and a red square with an ‘X’ through it means do not tumble dry.

A triangle on the tag means you can use chlorine bleach on the garment and an ‘X’ through a triangle means no bleach! If you want to press your clothes, look for the little iron on the tag. If there is an ‘X’, no ironing. One dot means to use the cool setting, two dots is a warm setting and three dots is a hot setting. For dry-clean garments – check the little circle on the tag. Your cleaning professional will know what the letter in the circle means.