Non-chlorine bleach only
Only non-chlorine (oxygen) bleach can be used on the item, not chlorine bleach.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The two diagonal lines inside the triangle limit bleaching to oxygen, or non-chlorine, bleach, the kind contained in most universal detergents, according to GINETEX. An empty triangle allows any bleach; a crossed-out triangle allows none.
Also searched as: oxygen bleach.
Where a garment's own label or its manufacturer says otherwise, that takes precedence.
Differences by country or standard
The non-chlorine bleach symbol is a later addition to the international system. When the US Federal Trade Commission compared the systems in 1997, it noted that the ISO and GINETEX symbols had none for non-chlorine bleach. GINETEX's history counts the oxygen bleach symbol among its latest symbols, for the bleaching agents other than chlorine that are sold as oxy-products.
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Read next
- Next in Laundry symbolsDo not bleachBleaching is not allowed for the item.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of the ComorosThe Comoros flag is four horizontal stripes, yellow, white, red and blue from the top, with a green triangle along the pole holding a white crescent and four white stars in a line between its tips. Norway’s Store norske leksikon explains the crescent as the symbol of Islam and the four stars as the four islands of the Comoros; Lex says the four stripes are said to stand for the islands too.
More laundry symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or triangles.
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. 6
- Guide to Apparel and Textile Care Symbols, CAN/CGSB-86.1-2003, Office of Consumer Affairs, Government of Canada, p. 3
- Trade Regulation Rule on Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods (interim rule, 1997), 62 FR 5724, 6 February 1997, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Register (govinfo.gov)
- Fifty Years of Care Labelling Symbols Since 1963, GINETEX, the International Association for Textile Care Labelling
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 24, 2026. How we research
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