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Care symbols on garment labels — washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional cleaning — and the marks that identify what a textile is.
Here when the mark instructs the care or names the composition of a textile. A certification mark that happens to appear on clothing is filed with packaging and certification, since it makes a claim about the maker rather than the garment.
A mix of common modern usage and culturally established practice, with a smaller standardised core. Care labelling is governed by different standards in different markets and the symbols do not fully agree.
All 72symbols in this domain, A–Z.
A continuous line of stitches worked backwards.
A plain weave with threads grouped in pairs.
A grainline set at forty-five degrees to the weave.
Looped stitches worked along a fabric edge.
A triangle outline, the GINETEX base symbol for bleaching instructions on a garment care label.
A laid thread held down by small stitches.
Crossbars on a stem counting how many times the yarn is wrapped.
Two diagonal stitches crossing in a square.
Letters and shapes in a grid standing for thread colours.
A long narrow triangle showing fabric to be folded out.
A triangle crossed out, forbidding bleach of any kind.
A circle crossed out, forbidding professional dry cleaning.
An iron crossed out, forbidding ironing.
A square containing a circle, crossed through with an X, instructing that a garment must not be machine-dried.
A washtub crossed out, forbidding washing in water altogether.
A twisted shape crossed out, forbidding wringing the garment.
A letter inside a circle naming the solvent a cleaner may use.
A horizontal line inside the drying square, meaning dry lying flat.
Diagonal stripes in the corner of the drying square, meaning keep out of sun.
A square outline, the GINETEX base symbol category covering all drying instructions on a garment care label.
Lines following a shape at even intervals outward.
Numbered arrows showing the order needle enters and leaves.
Percentages naming what a fabric is made of.
A warning about how cloth burns.
A rectangle with a central triangle and two corners.
A small filled dot standing for a wrapped knot.
A wavy line between two points to be drawn up.
One or two bars under a care symbol, calling for a gentler process.
An arrow saying which way the cloth runs.
A long double-headed arrow aligning a pattern piece with the fabric.
A square pieced from two triangles.
A hand dipped into a washtub, permitting washing by hand only.
Crossed diagonal stitches forming a zigzag band.
An outline of a hand-iron, the GINETEX base symbol for ironing instructions on a garment care label.
Dots inside an iron setting the maximum plate temperature.
A standardised chart alphabet readable without the language.
The rule that rows alternate direction as the work turns.
Brackets or a bold line marking the part that repeats.
A single anchored chain loop forming a petal.
Double lines showing where a piece may be adjusted.
A vertical line inside the drying square, meaning hang to dry.
Strips built outward from a central square.
A closed loop at the centre of a worked-in-the-round chart.
Numbers whose meaning depends on which national system.
A block of nine squares in a three-by-three grid.
A triangle or slit showing where two pieces must align.
A triangle with two diagonal stripes, permitting non-chlorine bleach.
A bracketed arrow meaning the piece is cut double.
A one-over-one-under grid, the simplest weave.
Arrows and lines showing which way fabric folds over.
A circle outline, the GINETEX base symbol for professional dry-cleaning or wet-cleaning instructions on a garment care label.
A W inside a circle, permitting professional cleaning in water.
A square pieced from four triangles.
A named grid diagram specifying how a block is pieced.
Parallel stitches filling a shape solidly.
A structure with widely spaced, scattered interlacings.
A dashed line inside the cutting line.
Marks showing the finished edge of woven cloth.
A cross or an X standing for the shortest worked stitch.
Overlapping slanted stitches forming a rope-like line.
Dense meandering lines that never cross.
Quilting worked along an existing seam line.
A thread count written as colour codes and numbers, defining a tartan.
Dots inside a circle in a square, setting tumble-dryer heat.
A stepped structure producing diagonal ridges.
Dots inside a washtub setting the maximum wash temperature.
A tub-shaped outline with a wavy water line, the GINETEX base symbol for washing instructions on a garment care label.
Four linked grids specifying threading, tie-up, treadling and the resulting cloth.
The top grid saying which shaft each warp thread passes through.
The predicted cloth pattern computed from a draft.
The two grids saying which shafts each treadle lifts and in what order.
A numbered skein icon on a ball band, giving a yarn's thickness category.