A college student has shared a quick trick to understanding the meaning of the symbols on your washing machine.
London-based student organization Save the Student shared a video about instagram that tells you how to make sure your clothes are “really clean and don’t shrink,” and all you need is an iPhone.
Clothing care symbols, which typically include images of a tub full of water, a circle inside a square, and one with an X, provide instructions and guidelines on everything from washing temperatures to ironing and drying.
A 2022 study found that the average adult annually ruins £128.99 worth of outfits due to a vicious cycle of confusion over iconography.
Meanwhile, fewer than one in seven people have said they can correctly identify common washing symbols, while a third of Brits admitted they never check instruction labels.
A college student has revealed a quick trick to understanding washing machine symbols; one so useful that it claims fellow Gen Zers will “never have to bother learning them”
The clip explains: “If you’re wondering what these symbols on your clothing labels mean and how to wash your clothes so they’re really clean and don’t shrink, here’s a little trick that will do all the work for you.
“We all know that these symbols tell how to wash clothes, but not many of us know how to read them.”
“Well, now you don’t need to bother learning because if you take a picture of it on your iPhone and then swipe up, you’ll see a button that says ‘find laundry care.'”
In the video, the anonymous student grabbed a gray t-shirt and held its wash tag up to the camera.
He then zoomed in on a piece of fabric that revealed five symbols: one for water temperature, ironing, solvent, as well as two warnings against bleaching and tumble drying.
He also shared a series of items such as a pair of jeans, t-shirts, and a sweater that he would wear to demonstrate the trick.
After grabbing an item of clothing from the pile, he pulled out an iPhone and used it to take a photo of the care label.
London-based student organization Save the Student said Apple’s digital assistant Siri translates symbols into understandable instructions.
As soon as the snapshot was taken, information about the iconography appeared below the image.
He went on to say that once you select “find laundry care,” Apple Electronics’ Siri, the phone’s digital assistant, would translate the icons into understandable instructions.
“As an example, you can see that this gray t-shirt should be washed at a maximum of 40 degrees,” he explained.
“And it’s safe to put it in the dryer; things like t-shirts are pretty obvious, but for delicates, wool or other more sensitive fabrics, this is very helpful.”
“So make sure you do this next time you wash,” he concluded.
Clothing care symbols, which typically include images of a tub full of water, a circle inside a square, and one with an X, provide instructions and guidelines on everything from washing temperatures to ironing and drying.
The news comes at a time when Generation Z considers laundromats their “home away from home.”
Young people living in cosmopolitan cities have to flock to laundromats out of necessity, but many have turned them into their new multifaceted social space, where they go on dates and even host comedy shows.
People have taken to TikTok to glorify otherwise normal trips to do laundry, coordinating their schedules with friends and doing vintage photo shoots with machines as backdrops.
In New York, a comedy event even hosted several shows inside La La Laundry in the East Village, featuring amateur and professional comics in an unusual setting.
James, writing about his beloved local laundromat, said: “Now I am here, crying as I write this. I’m surrounded by people who see the color of my underwear when I take it out of the dryer. What’s a few tears at this point? We already know each other well.
He said his local laundromat is the perfect place to “slide into my subconscious mind” because of its “familiar, sterile smell of cleaning products and metal, and the constant noise of water and hot air.”
James, an avid people-watcher, said she fantasizes about the different types of customers who come through the store, from entire families doing their laundry to couples standing in front of a machine holding hands.
“What most people see as an undesirable task, I see as a comfort zone,” James said.
‘My local laundromat is open 24 hours a day, like all good ones, and at any time of the day or night, for the rest of my life, I know there is a place that is open and waiting for me (as long as I have a sweatshirt with hood for washing).
‘I have never had a washer and dryer in the unit in the many years I have lived alone. And it never mattered. Because I have something rarer, more special: a home away from home.’
With the advancement of technology and the conveniences of modern life, Generation Z has set out to reestablish “third places” in the cities and towns they live in, and it appears many are using laundromats to do so.
Third spaces, a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg, are an informal gathering place for socialization that is neither home nor work.