EU textile care symbols

In the EU, fibre names are mandatory. Care symbols are a voluntary ISO / GINETEX system

Direct answer. Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 requires the fibre composition of a textile product. It does not require care symbols. The Commission’s report COM(2013) 656 on EUR-Lex says the Regulation does not regulate other aspects of labelling and marking, and that care labelling is a voluntary system owned by stakeholders and is the basis for EN ISO 3758:2012. ISO 3758:2023 is the current care-labelling code using symbols; ISO records the 2012 edition as withdrawn. GINETEX says its symbols are trademarks, that care labelling is mostly voluntary but can also be legally required, and that textile-labelling legislation may vary by country. Fibre names still have to be shown, including before an online purchase. Confirm Article 16 on the live EUR-Lex text. National rules are not surveyed here. This page is not legal advice.

FibreLedger Textile Labels (Shopify App Store · Write a review) checks EU textile fibre names against the Annex I catalogue in EN, DE, and FR, flags trade names such as Lycra or Tencel, and records French origin. The listing does not describe care-symbol authoring. The Annex I page is EU textile fibre composition.

Related: EU Food Info Guard — EU food information — allergens, origin, and nutrition before purchase.

Free check first: Textile fibre composition checker runs in your browser and sends nothing. Check fibre names against the EU Annex I list and that the blend adds up to 100%.

Checklist before you treat a wash symbol as required

What 1007/2011 requires, and what it leaves out

COM(2013) 656 says Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 is the sector-specific EU legislation for textile fibre names and the labelling and marking of fibre composition. It says a textile product on the EU market must have a label or marking which shows the fibre composition using the Annex I names, with the percentage by weight of all constituent fibres in descending order. The same report says: “The Regulation does not regulate other aspects of labelling and marking.”

Article 24 of the Regulation, as that report describes it, asked the Commission to examine possible new labelling, including a harmonised care-labelling system. The report’s conclusion is that care labelling did not need to be added to the Textile Regulation, because it was already addressed by voluntary schemes or standards. The care passage calls the existing system “voluntary” and says it is the basis for the standard EN ISO 3758:2012. That is a 2013 document. It names the 2012 edition because that was the edition then. It is not a claim that the 2012 text is still the current ISO standard.

ISO 3758 and the GINETEX trademark

ISO 3758:2023 establishes a system of graphic symbols for marking textile articles and for stating the most severe treatments that do not cause irreversible damage during care. The treatments it covers are washing, bleaching, drying, and ironing, plus professional dry and wet cleaning, excluding industrial laundering and professional carpet cleaning. ISO’s page records edition 4 as published in December 2023 and the 2012 edition as withdrawn. The standard describes the symbols. It does not, on that page, say an EU regulation makes them mandatory.

GINETEX’s symbol table says the care symbols are protected under trade mark law and are owned by GINETEX, and that they are the origin of the international standards (EN ISO 3758). It says the symbols may not be reproduced, issued, or used without a special agreement with GINETEX. On legislation, the same PDF says: “The legislation on textile labelling may vary from country to country. Care labelling is mostly voluntary, however it can also be legally required. The fibre composition of textile goods is mandatory in the European Union.” The “can also be legally required” clause is why this page does not say every national rule is voluntary. Confirm the country’s own text before you omit a care label.

What still has to be shown online

Fibre names remain the duty in the Regulation even when care symbols are voluntary. Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, on the EUR-Lex text you should open, indicates the fibre-composition descriptions in catalogues and trade literature, on packaging, labels, and markings, and states that this information shall be clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, including where the purchase is made by electronic means. Confirm that sentence on the live article before you rely on a paraphrase. A care-symbol row does not replace the composition line. How to write the names is EU textile fibre composition. Great Britain’s fibre-content duty is UK clothing labels, which also does not decide care symbols.

What this page is not

Related pages

Not legal advice. Confirm Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 and COM(2013) 656 on EUR-Lex, ISO 3758:2023, and the GINETEX pages, and any national care-label rule, before you treat care symbols as required or optional. The app checks fibre names you enter. It does not draw a care symbol or certify a label.