When you’re designing garments—whether a budding fashion brand or an established label—it’s crucial to get care instructions right. From the washing icon to the ironing and bleaching symbols, care labels inform customers how to treat your product, extend its life, and minimise returns. In this article, we’ll explore the meaning of laundry symbols, step you through how to print care instructions correctly, and link to resources so you can order custom labels with confidence.
1. Why care labels matter
Care labels are more than just obligation: they’re part of your brand’s professionalism and user-experience. They help:
- Ensure the garment lasts as intended (correct washing, drying, ironing).
- Protect your brand’s reputation (if fabrics degrade because of incorrect care, the fault may reflect poorly on the label).
- Fulfill legal or retail requirements (many markets expect proper wash-care instructions).
- Promote sustainability (when users wash correctly, you reduce waste).
If you’re printing your own care instruction sheets or including printed labels on garments, the process must be accurate and clearly legible.
2. Understanding laundry symbols
Here are the main categories of laundry symbols you’ll encounter:
Washing (tub icon)
- A plain tub means machine wash.
- A tub with a temperature (e.g., “30 °C”) indicates the maximum washing temperature.
- A tub with a hand means hand wash only.
- A tub with a line under it means a gentle or delicate cycle.
- A tub with two lines means very delicate or wool cycle.
Bleaching (triangle icon)
- An empty triangle means any bleaching agent is ok.
- A triangle with two lines means only non-chlorine bleach.
- A crossed triangle means do not bleach.
Drying (square icon + circle or lines)
- A square with a circle means tumble dry.
- Dots inside the circle indicate heat setting (one dot = low, two dots = medium/high).
- A square with horizontal or vertical lines indicates line drying, drip drying, or flat drying.
- A square with a circle crossed out means do not tumble dry.
Ironing (iron icon)
- The iron icon alone means ironing is permitted.
- Dots inside the iron indicate the temperature setting (one dot = low, two = medium, three = high).
- A crossed iron means do not iron.
Professional / Dry Clean (circle icon)
- A plain circle = dry clean any solvent.
- A circle with a letter (e.g., “P”, “F”) indicates which solvent(s) can be used.
- A crossed circle = do not dry clean.
Including correct symbols on your printed care instructions helps consumers treat garments correctly, and helps you avoid confusion, damage, or warranty claims.
3. How to print care instructions correctly
When you print care instructions for garments (whether for a sewn-in label or an external instruction sheet), follow these steps:
- Choose symbols standardised for your market – Different regions follow ISO or national standards (for example, the European standard EN ISO 3758). Using standard symbols ensures clarity.
- Select the right material for your label or print – If you’re printing on fabric labels, ensure the label material withstands washing and drying. For example, satin or cotton printed labels work well. For sheet instructions, ensure durable print quality and legibility. (For example, the product range on Clothing Labels includes printed labels on satin and cotton. %sitename%)
- Design layout with clarity – Place the symbol next to or above the text explanation (“Machine wash cold”, “Do not bleach”). Use a font size that remains legible after washing (if on fabric).
- Test printing and durability – Especially for fabric labels, run washing/drying tests to ensure the print doesn’t fade, bleed, or peel.
- Include internal linking or branding on your instruction sheet – If you’re linking to your brand’s site, you might add a small line like “For full product range see our products page”. For example, you could link to:
- Comply with regulatory requirements – Some jurisdictions require specific wording or languages on care labels or instructions. Review local regulation, especially if you export garments.
- Provide digital care instructions if needed – Some brands now include apps or QR codes on a label that link to a blog or website with extended care advice (see the blog section of Clothing Labels: a resource on care instructions). %sitename%
4. Printing methods and label types
There are multiple ways to present care instructions:
- Woven labels: Embroidered into the fabric of the label itself via loom. Ideal for high-end garments. On the Clothing Labels site, woven labels are described as “the best-known” and used by fashion designers. %sitename%
- Printed labels: These can be on cotton, satin, polyester, or polyamide. Good for care labels because printing allows for multiple symbols and text. For example: “Printed composition labels and size chips … machine washing and drying are no problem at all.” %sitename%
- Cardboard hang tags or inserts: If you prefer to include care instructions on a detachable card or tag, this gives more space and can include elaborate branding.
- Digital labels: Some brands now include digital solutions (QR codes, NFC tags) that link to an instructions page or blog. The Clothing Labels blog indicates “How Digital Labels Are Changing the Way We Interact with Clothing”. %sitename%
Choosing the right format depends on your brand positioning, garment type, budget, and target audience.
5. Best practices for SEO and internal linking
Since you might publish these instructions on your blog or website, you’ll want to optimise for search engines and integrate internal links correctly:
- Target query inclusion: Make sure your article title and headings include your target keyword (“laundry symbols explained”, “printing care instructions”) so search engines pick up relevance.
- Meta description usage: Keep it to ~150-160 characters, summarising the content and including the keyword.
- Internal linking: Link to your product pages, sample pages and other content. In the article above, we’ve included links to:
- Your Our products page (https://clothing-labels.co.uk/our-products/)
- Your Sample page (https://clothing-labels.co.uk/sample/)
- Your Blog listing page (https://clothing-labels.co.uk/blog/)
- Your About us page (https://clothing-labels.co.uk/about-us/)
- Your Contact page (https://clothing-labels.co.uk/contact/)
- Readability and user experience: Use headings for each section, bullets for lists, and keep paragraphs short. This helps both users and search engines.
- Image alt text: If you include images of laundry symbols, ensure alt-text includes the symbol name (e.g., “machine wash symbol tub icon”).
- Mobile-friendliness: Labels and instructions should render correctly on mobile.
6. Common mistakes to avoid
- Using non-standard or obscure symbols when standard ones exist — this can confuse users and may cause damage.
- Printing too small or light text on fabric labels — washing/ironing can render tiny text illegible.
- Ignoring durability: If your printed labels fade or peel, the instructions lose value and may damage brand trust.
- Omitting important instructions: For delicate fabrics, failing to include “do not tumble dry” or “dry flat” can shorten garment life.
- Poor internal linking: If your blog or product pages don’t link to each other, you lose SEO benefit and potential conversions.
7. Summary
Care instructions are a small but powerful part of your garment offering. By understanding the standard laundry symbols, choosing the right label type or sheet, and printing it correctly, you ensure your customers know how to care for your garments — protecting your brand, increasing garment longevity, and reducing returns. Plus, by publishing content about “laundry symbols explained” and linking internally to your pages — Our products, Sample, Blog, About us, Contact — you boost your site’s SEO and user engagement.