Reading care labels, washing fabrics, and removing stains without guesswork.
CleanBasket collects the everyday details of textile care into one plain reference: what the symbols on a Canadian care label mean, how to set a routine for each fabric type, and which stain methods are worth trying at home.
Three areas that cover most laundry questions
Each guide stays close to information printed on care labels and published by textile care standards bodies, rather than brand-specific advice.
Decoding the care label
The wash tub, triangle, square, iron, and circle — what each pictogram and its dots or bars actually instruct.
Routines by fabric type
Cotton, wool, synthetics, and delicates each respond differently to water temperature, agitation, and drying.
Treating common stains
A method that sorts stains by type — protein, tannin, oil, dye — and the order of steps that tends to work.
Care labels are a legal requirement on Canadian textiles
Under Canada's Textile Labelling Act and the Care Labelling Program, most consumer textiles sold in the country carry fibre content and care guidance. Many manufacturers use the ISO/ASTM care symbols, so learning the symbol set transfers across brands.
The symbols cover five operations in a fixed order: washing, bleaching, drying, ironing, and professional textile care. Reading them left to right gives a full routine for a garment.
- WashingA tub of water; numbers or dots set the temperature ceiling.
- BleachingA triangle; an open triangle allows any bleach.
- DryingA square; a circle inside indicates tumble drying.
- IroningAn iron shape; dots set the maximum plate temperature.
Water temperature, in plain terms
Care labels in Canada often print temperatures in degrees Celsius inside the wash-tub symbol. The ranges below describe how the common settings are generally understood.
| Label marking | Approximate range | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Cold | around 20°C | Bright colours, lightly soiled items, energy saving |
| Warm | around 30–40°C | Everyday mixed loads, synthetics |
| Hot | around 50–60°C | Heavily soiled cottons, household linens |
The single dot, two dots, and three dots inside the wash-tub symbol correspond to rising temperature limits. When in doubt, the lower temperature is the safer choice for colour and shape retention.
Questions or corrections
If you spot an error in a guide or want to suggest a topic, send a note using the form. Fields marked required must be completed before the form will submit.
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