Before It Is Washed Trivia Quiz

This symbol means the garment should only be washed by hand and not put in a washing machine. This symbol often appears on delicate items that might be damaged by a machine as hand washing is usually much gentler on fabrics than a machine. Special detergents are available for use when handwashing which are gentler both on delicate fabrics and skin.

This symbol means the item must not be dried in a tumble dryer. Garments with this label are often made from fabrics that could be damaged or shrink in the high temperatures found in a tumble dryer. Such items should be air dried instead.

Triangle symbols on clothing labels relate to whether or not the garment can be cleaned using a bleaching agent. This symbol means the item can be bleached but only using a bleach that does not contain the chemical chlorine. These bleaches are sometimes called 'colour safe' as they contain an oxygen based bleaching compound, usually hydrogen peroxide which removes stains without damaging coloured fabrics.

This symbol means the garment should be dried hung on a washing line or similar. Line drying usually conjures up images of clothes hanging outside on an airer or clothesline but this symbol does not mean they have to be outdoors just that the garments should be hung up to dry.

While the GINETEX symbol for line drying looks like this some countries use an alternative symbol consisting of a vertical line in the centre of a square.

This symbol means the garment must not be dry cleaned. Dry cleaning still uses liquid to wash the clothes however the liquids used are not water or water based. The most common dry-cleaning solvent is tetrachloroethylene a type of chemical called a chlorocarbon as it is made up of the elements chlorine and carbon.

This symbol means the garment should be dried flat. This is a common practice when drying garments such as sweaters that get heavy when wet and might become misshapen if hung up to dry due to the weight of the wet garment pulling downwards. Drying flat means the garment is put under less stress and therefore is less likely to stretch out of shape.

A garment to be dried flat should be laid out on a rack or other flat surface such as a table.

This symbol means it is safe to iron the garment. Some fabrics, such as silk and wool, should generally not be ironed as they are made from materials that can be damaged by the heat from the iron. This symbol can include 1, 2 or 3 dots inside the iron symbol, these indicate the temperature at which the garment can be ironed with 1 dot meaning a low temperature while three dots signify a high temperature can be used.

This symbol means the garment can be dried in a tumble dryer but that the heat setting of the tumble dryer should be low. This symbol also appears with two dots meaning the normal temperature of the tumble dryer can be used. Tumble dryers are a household appliance that use heat to dry clothes, traditional tumble dryers draw in air which is heated and sent into the drying chamber before being vented outside to remove the warm, moist air.

This symbol means the garment must not be washed using bleach. This is usually because the chemicals contained in bleaches may damage the fabric or strip the colour from the clothes. Usually, these clothes can just be washed with normal laundry detergent however for stubborn stains bleach free stain removers can be used if needed.

This symbol means the garment should be washed at a temperature of 40 degrees C or less, washing at higher temperatures may damage the clothes. Although the symbol depicts a wash tub this symbol means the clothes can go in a washing machine. In the US where temperatures are usually given using degrees Fahrenheit instead of Celsius this symbol contains dots to signify the temperature level. One dot equates to 30 degrees C (86F) and the temperatures increase by 10 degrees C adding a dot each time until it reaches four dots which signifies a temperature of 60C or 140F.