Tumble dry, high heat
Tumble dry on high heat. Three dots. This level appears on US (ASTM) labels only.
What to do
Tumble dry on high heat (three dots).
What to avoid
Three dots means high is allowed, not required.
How to spot it on a label
Look for the drying square in the third spot of a standard care row. A circle inside that square marks machine tumble drying, while lines inside it mark an air-drying method. Count three small hollow dots inside the circle to confirm this ASTM symbol.
Easy to confuse with
- Tumble dry, high heatTumble dry, medium heat
Check the mark
Count the hollow dots inside the circle: high heat has three, not two.
- Tumble dry, high heatTumble dry, no heat (air only)
Check the mark
Check both count and fill: high heat has three hollow dots, while no heat has one filled dot.
- Tumble dry, high heatDrip dry
Check the mark
Look for the inner circle: this mark encloses three small dots, while drip dry has three long vertical lines and no circle.
On a real label
White cotton shop towels (US label)
Read together: Wash at up to 60°C, use any bleach only when needed, tumble dry at the ASTM high setting, iron on high (three dots), and do not dry clean.
- Category
- Drying
- Appears on
- US (ASTM) labels
Related symbols
Common questions
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What do three dots inside a dryer symbol mean?
- On an ASTM label, three hollow dots permit high-heat tumble drying. High is the maximum allowed by the mark, not a required setting.
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Why does my US care label have three dryer dots?
- ASTM adds a three-dot high setting above its two-dot medium setting. ISO does not include that third tumble-heat level.
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Can I find three-dot tumble dry on an international label?
- Not on an ISO symbol label. ISO has no three-dot tumble-dry equivalent.
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Are three dryer dots the same as three vertical drying lines?
- No. The high-heat mark has three small dots enclosed by a circle. Drip dry has three long upright lines with no circle.