The Care Labeling Rule is a Federal Trade Commission regulation, codified at 16 CFR Part 423, that requires manufacturers and importers to attach permanent care instructions to most clothing sold in the United States. The label must tell you how to wash, bleach, dry, iron, and, where applicable, professionally clean the garment without damaging it, and it must warn you about cleaning steps that would ruin the item. The rule applies equally to domestically produced and imported apparel, and each mislabeled garment counts as its own violation.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
What a Compliant Care Label Must Say
Every label has to provide one complete cleaning method that will not damage the garment under normal use. If a piece can be both washed and dry cleaned, the manufacturer only has to describe one of those routes. Most labels address four areas: washing, bleaching, drying, and ironing. Dry cleaning instructions are added when that is the recommended method.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Silence on the label carries meaning, and that is the part most consumers miss. If a machine-wash instruction says nothing about water temperature, hot water is presumed safe. If a tumble-dry instruction says nothing about heat, high heat is presumed safe. If a wash instruction says nothing about bleach, every commercially available bleach type is presumed safe. So a garment that would shrink in warm water, melt on high heat, or fade with chlorine bleach needs an explicit instruction saying so.
Washing and Bleaching
Machine-washable garments must specify water temperature when hot or warm water is necessary. Bleach warnings follow the same pattern: labels can stay quiet only when every bleach type is safe. When chlorine bleach would harm the fabric, the label needs a phrase such as “only non-chlorine bleach.”1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Drying and Ironing
Labels must say whether to tumble dry, line dry, or dry flat. If tumble drying at high heat would cause damage, the label must specify a lower setting. Ironing instructions appear only when they need to: a garment that tolerates a regular hot iron needs no ironing line at all, but a fabric that requires a cool iron or cannot be ironed must say so.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Dry Cleaning
A dry cleaning instruction has to name at least one safe solvent type unless every commercially available solvent works. Vague phrases like “drycleanable” or “commercially dryclean” are not allowed because they do not tell the cleaner which solvents are safe. If a garment tolerates any solvent but cannot handle steam, for example, the label should read “Professionally dryclean. No steam.” Prohibitions must use plain words: “Do not,” “No,” or “Only.”1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Which Clothing the Rule Covers
The rule reaches textile wearing apparel, meaning clothing designed to cover or protect the body. Shirts, pants, dresses, jackets, and undergarments are all in. Piece goods, meaning fabric sold by the yard for home sewing, are covered too, so a craft store selling fabric has to provide care information along with it.2Federal Trade Commission. Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods
Several categories sit outside Part 423. Footwear, gloves, and hats are excluded. Accessories that do not primarily cover the body, such as belts and suspenders, are also excluded. Leather and suede garments follow different care standards and are not subject to the textile-specific rules. Disposable single-use items are exempt, as are garments tough enough to survive the harshest cleaning without damage, and very small items where a permanent label would be impractical or interfere with the product’s use. Even when a product is exempt from Part 423, any care claim the manufacturer chooses to make still has to be truthful under the FTC’s broader consumer protection authority.3Federal Trade Commission. Truth In Advertising
Who Is Legally on the Hook
Manufacturers and importers carry the responsibility. Retailers generally are not liable unless they are also the importer or their own private-label manufacturer. For imported clothing, the importer has to verify that every garment meets federal labeling standards before it reaches shelves, regardless of the country of origin.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Warnings About Procedures That Would Damage the Garment
Manufacturers cannot only tell you what to do; they also have to warn you about cleaning steps you might reasonably try that would ruin the piece. A shirt that is not colorfast needs a “Wash with like colors” or “Wash separately” note. Pants that would be damaged by ironing need “Do not iron.” The rule specifically requires clear prohibitive language rather than soft cautions, and staying silent about a damaging procedure is a violation just as much as writing an incorrect instruction is.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
How Manufacturers Must Back Up Their Instructions
Every instruction and every warning needs a “reasonable basis” before the product goes on sale. That means reliable evidence, not a supplier’s verbal assurance. Acceptable proof includes cleaning tests showing the garment was not harmed when cleaned repeatedly by the label’s method, harm tests showing that procedures being warned against actually damage the fabric, component-level evidence for each material combined with evidence for the assembled item, simulated care testing in a lab, or established technical literature and industry expertise about how specific fibers and finishes respond to particular processes.4eCFR. 16 CFR 423.6 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods
Substantiation is where most enforcement actions turn. Because the FTC treats each mislabeled garment as its own violation, a production run of a few thousand shirts with unsupported instructions can generate an enormous liability quickly.5Federal Trade Commission. Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule
Symbols and English Text
The little icons you see on care labels come from ASTM standard D5489: a tub for washing, a triangle for bleaching, a square for drying, an iron shape for ironing, and a circle for professional cleaning. Manufacturers may use them in place of written instructions, but only under one condition. If symbols appear without any English text, they must follow the older D5489-96c version referenced in the regulation. Newer versions of the standard can be used, but only if written English instructions appear alongside them.6ASTM International. Standard Guide for Care Symbols for Care Instructions on Textile Products
Most U.S. labels include both symbols and English text, which sidesteps the version question and helps shoppers who do not read the symbol system fluently. Additional languages are permitted, but English is required for domestic sales whether or not symbols are used.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
How the Label Must Be Attached
The label has to be permanently attached and stay legible for the useful life of the garment. The attachment method itself must survive the cleaning processes the label describes: if the label says “machine wash,” the label cannot fall off in the washing machine. Labels also have to be positioned so you can find them at the point of sale, before you buy, so maintenance is part of the purchase decision.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
When packaging hides the internal label, care instructions must appear on the outside of the package or on a hangtag. Physical failures carry the same legal weight as printing the wrong information.1eCFR. 16 CFR Part 423 – Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended
Penalties for Violations
Violations fall under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which authorizes civil penalties the agency adjusts annually for inflation. The maximum reached $51,744 per violation in 2024.7Federal Trade Commission. FTC Publishes Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts for 2024 Because each mislabeled garment is a separate violation, a single production run can generate six- or seven-figure exposure. Since 1990, the FTC has brought 16 enforcement actions under this rule, with penalties reaching as high as $300,000.5Federal Trade Commission. Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule
Reporting a Bad Care Label
If you buy a garment that arrives without care instructions, carries a label that washes off the first time, or gives instructions that damage the item on first use, you can report the manufacturer to the FTC. The most direct route is the agency’s online portal at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also call the Consumer Response Center at 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357).8Federal Trade Commission. Contact the Federal Trade Commission
A single complaint rarely triggers an investigation on its own, but the FTC uses complaint data to find patterns. When several consumers report the same manufacturer or the same defective label, that pattern can lead to enforcement. Keep the garment and its original label if you plan to file.