FTC care labeling rule requirements for apparel businesses
The FTC care labeling rule requires supported regular-care instructions on covered apparel, including method, warnings, symbols and narrow exemptions.
The FTC care labeling rule requires manufacturers and importers of textile wearing apparel and certain piece goods, in or affecting commerce, to give regular care instructions when those products are sold. See § 423.3. Apparel generally needs a permanent care label with a washing or drycleaning method, plus warnings where the rule requires them. Those instructions need a reasonable basis before sale. 16 CFR Part 423 is the operative text.
This is a US rule for covered products supplied to that market. It is not a statement of UK law. The sections below follow the eCFR text current through October 27, 2026.
For a later change, check the amending act itself.
Who must provide care labels for clothing?
The covered group includes any person or organization that directs or controls the manufacture or importation of covered products. A private-label brand should read that clause before assuming the factory alone carries the duty. See § 423.4.
Coverage is narrower than all textile products. Textile wearing apparel includes hosiery. It excludes footwear, gloves, hats and other articles used exclusively to cover or protect the head or hands. Check the definitions in § 423.1 before you decide a product needs an apparel care tag.
Part 423 is about care instructions, not every garment label requirement. Meeting it doesn't, by itself, establish total US textile compliance.
The label must last and be visible at sale
A care label is a permanent label or tag containing regular care information and instructions. It must stay attached and remain legible during the product's useful life. See § 423.1(a). A hang tag ordinarily supplements that label. It replaces the label only under a § 423.8 exemption.
The label must be seen or easily found when the product is offered for sale. If the product is packaged, displayed or folded so customers cannot see or easily find it, the care information must also appear on the outside of the package or on a hang tag fastened to the product. That extra copy does not replace the permanent label. See § 423.6(a).
What the care label instructions must say
The label must state what regular care is needed for the ordinary use of the product. In general, give either a washing instruction or a drycleaning instruction. One is enough when either method works. If the product cannot be cleaned by any available cleaning method without being harmed, the label must say so. See § 423.6(b).
Washing instructions
Each part of a washing instruction has its own condition. The rule does not make every garment label print five statements. This table follows § 423.6(b)(1).
| Care step | What the label must say |
|---|---|
| Washing | State hand or machine washing and a safe water temperature. You may omit the temperature only if regular hot-water washing up to 145°F (63°C) will not harm the product. |
| Drying | State machine drying or another method. Give a machine-drying temperature unless regular high-temperature drying causes no harm. |
| Ironing | Mention ironing when it is regularly needed to preserve appearance, or when a warning requires it. If you mention it, give a safe temperature unless regular hot ironing causes no harm. |
| Bleaching | No statement is needed if all commercially available bleaches can safely be used on a regular basis. If all would harm the product on a regular basis, say "No bleach" or "Do not bleach." If regular use of chlorine bleach would harm it, but regular use of a non-chlorine bleach would not, say "Only non-chlorine bleach, when needed." |
| Warnings | Warn about reasonably expected parts of the prescribed procedure that could harm the garment or other items washed with it, including in one or more washings. |
Silence is a care claim. An omitted temperature means hot water up to 145°F (63°C) is safe. An omitted bleach statement means every commercially available bleach is safe on a regular basis. Both need support before sale under § 423.6(b)(1) and § 423.6(c).
Use "Do not," "No," "Only" or other clear wording. You don't have to warn against every alternative. The rule's "Dry flat" example does not also need "Do not tumble dry." Those phrases are examples, not a ready-made care label for an untested product. See § 423.6(b)(1).
Drycleaning instructions
If the label gives a drycleaning instruction, name at least one solvent type that may be used. Omit the solvent only when all commercially available types can be used. "Drycleanable" and "Commercially Dryclean" may not be used in an instruction. Warn about harmful, reasonably expected parts of the prescribed process. See § 423.6(b)(2).
The operative definition uses a machine and a common organic solvent. See § 423.1(c). Professional wetcleaning alone is not an expressly authorized replacement for the required washing or drycleaning instruction. That does not ban wetcleaning. A wetcleaning line by itself does not meet § 423.6(b).
Have evidence before sale
Manufacturers and importers must have a reasonable basis for all disclosed care information before sale, including instructions whose silence has a meaning. See § 423.5(a)(5) and § 423.6(c).
Reliable evidence can include successful repeated cleaning, successful tests (including simulated care), current technical literature, past experience, industry expertise or other reliable evidence. Warnings need support too. Component evidence has to come with evidence for the garment as a whole. Fabric composition alone does not support the finished garment's instructions. The rule does not expressly require a laboratory test of every unit. See § 423.6(c).
Can symbols replace words?
Any appropriate terms may be used if they clearly and accurately describe regular care and otherwise meet the rule. See § 423.2(a).
Yes, but the edition matters. Section 423.8(g) permits ASTM D5489-96c symbols instead of terms when the symbols fulfill the rule. Appropriate symbols may also be used with the required terms under § 423.2(b). An ISO 3758 label, or a newer ASTM edition, is not an independently authorized symbol-only replacement. Check the named edition before you approve symbols-only artwork.
Piece goods and care-label exemptions
Covered piece goods are bolt or roll textiles for home-sewn apparel, including specified known-fiber remnants. Care information must appear clearly and conspicuously on the end of each bolt or roll, and it needs to address only the fabric. See § 423.1(b) and § 423.7.
These apparel exemptions in § 423.8 drop the permanent label. They do not drop the duty to show care information before sale:
- Totally reversible apparel without pockets is exempt from the permanent label. Consumers still must be given the care information, on a hang tag, on the package, or in some other conspicuous place.
- An appearance or usefulness hardship exemption is not a private decision. The request goes in writing to the Secretary of the Commission, with a labeled sample and a full statement of reasons. If granted, the care information still has to be visible before sale.
- The harshest-procedures exemption is automatic. No request is filed. You need reliable proof that machine washing in hot water, machine drying at a high setting, ironing at a hot setting, bleaching with all commercially available bleaches, and drycleaning with all commercially available solvents can safely be used. The statement "wash or dry clean, any normal method" must then appear on a hang tag, on the package, or in some other conspicuous place.
Exemptions granted under the December 9, 1971 rule, or the earlier provisions cited in § 423.8(f), continue only while the product still meets the original standards. Otherwise the exemption is automatically revoked. Products sold to institutional buyers for commercial use need not be supplied with any care information. Do not treat that as an exemption for every business customer, or for every uniform. Read the exact paragraph in § 423.8 before you drop a label or a line of care information.
The rule was not repealed
The FTC's December 8, 2023 action ended the review and rulemaking, not the Care Labeling Rule. Proposed changes on wetcleaning, symbols and other provisions should not be read as adopted requirements. See the FTC final determination. RegAffairs AI's answer on the FTC care labeling rule provides a citation-backed explanation of these obligations.