In 2003, the system was withdrawn in favor of a black-and-white symbol-based system harmonized with North American and international standards. Publication 86-GP-1 was revised several times over the following three decades the most noteworthy change was in 1979, when temperatures changed from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and any additional instructions were to be added in text, in both English and French.

In March 1970, the Canadian Government Specification Board published 86-GP-1, Standard for Care Labelling of Textiles, which promoted a symbol-based textile care labelling system in which symbols were colored: green indicated 'no precautions are necessary', yellow indicated 'some caution is necessary', and red indicated 'prohibited'. ISO 3758 was supplemented in 1993, revised in 2005 and again in 2012 with reviews of the standard held on a five-year cycle. By the early 1970s, GINETEX was working with ISO to develop international standards for textile labelling, eventually leading to the ISO 3758 standard, Textiles – Care labelling code using symbols. GINETEX, the France-based European association for textile care labelling, was formed in 1963 in part to define international standards for the care and labelling of textiles. In some standards, pictograms coexist with or are complemented by written instructions. While there are internationally recognized standards for the care labels and pictograms, their exact use and form differ by region. Such symbols are written on labels, known as care labels or care tags, attached to clothing to indicate how a particular item should best be cleaned.

A poster from a laundromat in Beckley, West Virginia, that lists many of the common laundering instruction icons found on garment tagsĪ laundry symbol, also called a care symbol, is a pictogram indicating the manufacturer's suggestions as to methods of washing, drying, dry-cleaning and ironing clothing.

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