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The ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials) care labeling committee has developed care symbols in lieu of words on an apparel care label. The ASTM care symbols are simple, comprehensive and easy to understand. They have been harmonized with care labeling instructions and international symbol systems.
The ASTM care symbol system uses six basic symbols to depict textile care instructions on a label. The five symbols for the basic care processes are:
- The washtub (washing)
- Triangle (bleaching)
- Square (drying)
- Iron (ironing and pressing)
- Circle (dry cleaning)
- The sixth symbol is ‘X’ is placed over the other symbols and indicates ‘Do Not’
Washing symbols: The washtub is used to represent the washing process. The machine cycle is placed under the tub and the water temperature is indicated by dots the Celsius symbol inside the tub. Other wash symbols include a hand in the tub to indicate hand washing and a twisted cloth with an “X” on its means do not wring. Dots have been used to indicate the water temperature. ‘X’ on the washtub indicates do not wash.
Bleaching symbols: The triangle represents bleaching. The plain triangle means any bleach when needed. The shaded triangle means only non-chlorine bleach and the shaded triangle with an “X” through means do not bleach.
Drying symbols: The square represents during tumble-drying and air-drying. The square with a circle inside depicts tumble-drying. Dots and underlines represent the tumble-drying, heat settings and machine cycles. There are also other symbols for tumble dry no heat (a solid circle) in the square and for tumble dry any heat (an empty circle in the square)
Air-drying is indicated by symbols inside the square. A clothesline in the square means line dries, three vertical lines in the square mean drip dry and a horizontal line in the square means dry flat. If diagonal lines are placed over a symbol, it means dry in the shade.
Ironing symbols: The iron represents iron or press steam may also be used to indicate it.
An “X” on the iron represents no iron, no steam.
Dry cleaning symbols: The circle represents the process of dry cleaning. The additional four symbols are short cycle, low moisture, no steam finishing and low heat. One of the issues related to dry cleaning is the accurate reporting of the solvent used in dry cleaning. Any new solvents used in dry cleaning can be reported by these symbols. ‘X’ symbol on circle indicates do not dry clean the fabric.
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