Natural drying symbols
The square is drying. A circle inside it means a tumble dryer; lines inside it mean air, and which lines you get is an instruction about how to hang the thing.
In detail
Almost everyone reads the square as the tumble-dryer symbol. It is not: the square is DRYING, and what sits inside it says which kind. A circle inside means tumble drying. One or more LINES inside means natural drying, and the number and direction of the lines is a specific instruction rather than decoration. A VERTICAL LINE MEANS LINE DRYING — hung on a line. TWO vertical lines mean DRIP LINE DRYING: hung up still dripping wet. A HORIZONTAL line means FLAT DRYING, laid out rather than hung. Two horizontal lines mean DRIP FLAT DRYING. So the axis tells you hung or flat, and doubling tells you whether to wring or spin the water out first. AN OBLIQUE LINE ACROSS THE TOP CORNER means the same process carried out IN THE SHADE. It appears on any of the four, giving eight symbols in total, and it is the one most often missed because it looks like part of the frame. The originating body states the tumble-drying rules in the same section: get the water out well before drying, do not overfill the drum, and dry together only articles that need the same drying time, since cotton and synthetics do not. Dimensionally- and heat-sensitive pieces should not go in a tumble dryer at all.
Why
- Hot-water extraction is explained by Natural drying symbols
- Moisture control is explained by Natural drying symbols
Sources for this page
Sources
GINETEX, The International Association for Textile Care Labelling · Standards body
Relied on for: That the square is the drying symbol, a circle inside meaning tumble drying and lines inside natural drying; that the lines indicate line, drip line, flat and drip flat drying and an oblique line means in the shade; and that water is extracted before drying, the drum not overfilled, and dimensionally- or heat-sensitive pieces kept out of a tumble dryer. (states this directly)