Drip dry
The item is meant to be hung up to dry while still soaking wet, so that the water drips out.
How to read it
Three vertical lines in a square mean drip drying: hanging the item up while soaking wet so the water drips out. A square with lines inside marks natural drying; a circle inside marks tumble drying.
Where a garment's own label or its manufacturer says otherwise, that takes precedence.
Differences by country or standard
Three vertical lines are the North American form, shown in the Canadian government's guide. GINETEX's international guide calls the process drip line drying and draws it with vertical lines inside the square.
Read next
- Next in Laundry symbolsIron, low heatThe item can be ironed at a low temperature, up to 110°C (230°F).
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of AngolaAngola’s flag is red over black with a yellow emblem in the centre: part of a cogwheel, a machete and a five-pointed star. Its constitution says the red is the blood shed by Angolans under colonial oppression, in the liberation struggle and in defence of the country, and the black is the African continent; the cogwheel stands for workers and industry, the machete for peasants, farming and the armed struggle, the star for international solidarity and progress, and their yellow for the country’s wealth.
More laundry symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Textiles — Care labelling code using symbols, ISO 3758, ISO, Abstract (ISO 3758:2023)
- Standard Guide for Care Symbols for Care Instructions on Textile Products, ASTM D5489, ASTM International, section 4.6 (ASTM D5489-25)
- Textile Care Symbols, GINETEX, the International Association for Textile Care Labelling, p. 7
- Guide to Apparel and Textile Care Symbols, CAN/CGSB-86.1-2003, Office of Consumer Affairs, Government of Canada, p. 4
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 3, 2026. How we research
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