Laundry Symbols Chart – What Washing Symbols Mean (ISO 3758)
Free laundry symbols chart with all 43 care symbols and their meanings. Pick the symbols on your clothing label to get plain instructions for washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional cleaning. Updated for the 2023 ISO 3758 revision.
Laundry symbols chart (43 symbols, after the 2024 update)
Every symbol and its meaning, in the same order and numbering as the table published by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency for JIS L 0001, which follows ISO 3758. Each symbol sets an upper limit: the garment can be treated under that condition or a gentler one.
Washing
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 190 | Machine wash, maximum 95 °C | |
| 170 | Machine wash, maximum 70 °C | |
| 160 | Machine wash, maximum 60 °C | |
| 161 | Machine wash, mild process, maximum 60 °C | |
| 150 | Machine wash, maximum 50 °C | |
| 151 | Machine wash, mild process, maximum 50 °C | |
| 140 | Machine wash, maximum 40 °C | |
| 141 | Machine wash, mild process, maximum 40 °C | |
| 142 | Machine wash, very mild process, maximum 40 °C | |
| 130 | Machine wash, maximum 30 °C | |
| 131 | Machine wash, mild process, maximum 30 °C | |
| 132 | Machine wash, very mild process, maximum 30 °C | |
| 110 | Hand wash, maximum 40 °C | |
| 111 | Hand wash, maximum 30 °C | |
| 100 | Do not wash at home |
Bleaching
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 220 | Any bleach allowed (chlorine or oxygen) | |
| 210 | Only oxygen (non-chlorine) bleach allowed | |
| 200 | Do not bleach |
Tumble drying
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 320 | Tumble dry, normal temperature (maximum exhaust 80 °C) | |
| 310 | Tumble dry, low temperature (maximum exhaust 60 °C) | |
| 300 | Do not tumble dry |
Natural drying
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 440 | Line dry | |
| 445 | Line dry in the shade | |
| 430 | Drip line dry | |
| 435 | Drip line dry in the shade | |
| 420 | Dry flat | |
| 425 | Dry flat in the shade | |
| 410 | Drip dry flat | |
| 415 | Drip dry flat in the shade |
Ironing
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 530 | Iron at a maximum sole-plate temperature of 210 °C | |
| 520 | Iron at a maximum sole-plate temperature of 160 °C | |
| 510 | Iron at a maximum sole-plate temperature of 120 °C | |
| 511 | Iron without steam at a maximum sole-plate temperature of 120 °C | |
| 500 | Do not iron |
Dry cleaning
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 620 | Professional dry cleaning in perchloroethylene, dibutoxymethane, hydrocarbon solvents or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane | |
| 621 | Professional dry cleaning, mild process, in perchloroethylene, dibutoxymethane, hydrocarbon solvents or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane | |
| 610 | Professional dry cleaning in hydrocarbon solvents or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane | |
| 611 | Professional dry cleaning, mild process, in hydrocarbon solvents or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane | |
| 600 | Do not dry clean |
Wet cleaning
| Symbol | No. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 710 | Professional wet cleaning | |
| 711 | Professional wet cleaning, mild process | |
| 712 | Professional wet cleaning, very mild process | |
| 700 | Do not wet clean |
Source: Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan, “Revision of the Textile Product Quality Labeling Rules – Laundry symbols on clothing are changing” (20 August 2024), annex. The drawings use the same elements (shapes, dots, bars, crosses) as the official symbols; for the exact artwork see JIS L 0001 / ISO 3758.
Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan: new laundry symbols (official page, Japanese)
What is the laundry symbols chart?
This page lets you look up the meaning of all 43 laundry care symbols in two ways: as a complete chart and by picking the symbols you see on a clothing label. Care labels combine seven basic symbols — washing, bleaching, tumble drying, natural drying, ironing, dry cleaning and wet cleaning — with extra marks such as numbers, dots, bars and crosses. Pick the symbols on your label from top to bottom and the page summarises whether the garment can go in the washing machine, which bleach and dryer settings are safe, and how hot the iron may be, so you do not have to decode each symbol separately.
The symbols follow the international standard ISO 3758, which was revised in December 2023. Japan adopted the update in its JIS L 0001 standard on 20 August 2024, and this chart uses the official Japanese table, which lists every symbol with a number. The revision added two symbols — a hand-wash symbol with a bar underneath (hand wash at up to 30 °C in the Japanese table; ISO describes it as hand wash at ambient temperature) and ironing without steam — bringing the total to 43, raised the ironing limits from 200, 150 and 110 °C to 210, 160 and 120 °C, and widened the list of dry-cleaning solvents.
How to use the laundry symbols chart
- Find the care label on the garment Care labels are usually sewn into the back of the neck or a side seam. The symbols tend to run in the order washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional cleaning, and the outline shape — tub, triangle, square, iron or circle — tells you the group.
- Pick the matching symbol in each group In “Look up the symbols on your clothing label”, press the symbol that matches your label in each group. Leave groups that are not on the label set to None; press a symbol again to deselect it.
- Read the summary The meanings of the selected symbols are listed in order, starting with washing. Numbers are the maximum water temperature, dots show the temperature level, and bars underneath mean a mild or very mild process.
- Share it or compare in the chart Send the summary to family with Copy or a share button. To tell similar symbols apart, compare the symbols of the same group in the chart below.
Tips for getting more out of it
- A symbol is an upper limit, not an instruction. A 40 °C tub means you may also wash at 30 °C or in cold water, and when in doubt the gentler option is the safe choice.
- One bar under the tub means a mild wash and two bars a very mild wash. A delicates or wool cycle and a laundry bag are good ways to follow them.
- Labels in the United States may show dots inside the tub instead of a number (ASTM D5489): one dot is about 30 °C and more dots mean hotter water. The other symbols are read in the same way.
- Words printed next to the symbols, such as “wash inside out” or “use a laundry bag”, give care advice the symbols cannot express, so follow them as well.
When to use the laundry symbols chart
Washing a new garment for the first time
For knitwear, blouses and other items you are unsure about, picking the label symbols tells you at once whether they can be machine washed and how gently, which helps prevent shrinking and stretching.
Before using bleach or a tumble dryer
Check the triangle and square symbols before treating a stain with bleach or using a dryer. The difference between any bleach and oxygen-only bleach is clear at a glance.
Clothes bought abroad or online
Because the symbols are international, labels from other countries are read the same way. You can understand how to care for a garment even if you cannot read the label’s language.
Deciding whether to take it to a cleaner
The circles with P, F and W show whether dry cleaning or professional wet cleaning is allowed, which helps when a garment cannot be washed at home.
Laundry symbols glossary
- Tumble drying
- Drying clothes in a rotating drum with warm air, as in a household tumble dryer or washer-dryer. It is shown by a circle inside a square, with dots for the maximum temperature.
- Drip drying
- Hanging or laying clothes out while still wet, without spinning or wringing them. In the natural drying symbols, two lines mean drip line drying or drip flat drying.
- Wet cleaning
- A professional water-based cleaning and finishing process carried out by a cleaner with special equipment. It is shown by a W in a circle and is separate from dry cleaning (P and F).
- Oxygen bleach
- Bleach based on sodium percarbonate or hydrogen peroxide. It acts more gently than chlorine bleach and many products are safe for coloured fabrics. A triangle with two diagonal lines allows only this type.
- Additional marks
- Marks added to a basic symbol to show strength, temperature or prohibition: numbers (water temperature), dots (temperature level), bars (milder process), a cross (do not) and a diagonal line (shade).
Laundry symbols FAQ
Side Note — Why laundry symbols became limits instead of instructions
Until November 2016, Japan used its own system of 22 care symbols. Words such as “hand wash” and “gentle” were written inside the tub in Japanese, and the symbols described the recommended way to wash. That was helpful for Japanese readers, but clothes made abroad carried international symbols, so they had to be relabelled before going on sale in Japan.
In December 2016 Japan switched to symbols aligned with ISO 3758, and the number of symbols rose to 41. The biggest change was the idea behind them: each symbol now marks a limit — the strongest treatment the garment can take — rather than the one method the maker recommends. The person washing chooses anything within that limit, and advice the symbols cannot express is added in words, such as “use a laundry bag”.
ISO 3758 was revised again in December 2023, and Japan followed on 20 August 2024. Two symbols were added, bringing the total to 43, the ironing limits were raised by 10 °C, and newer dry-cleaning solvents, adopted partly for environmental reasons, were added to the list. Those small marks on a clothing label keep being updated as washing habits and technology change around the world.