Cottons
The main programme for robust cotton and linen: the longest, most vigorous wash with the highest temperatures and spin speeds on the machine.
What it is for
Towels, bed linen, underwear, T-shirts and other durable cottons and linens, from normally to heavily soiled. Miele’s chart runs it from cold to 90 °C and suggests 60 °C or higher where hygiene matters; Hotpoint’s defaults to 40 °C with up to 1600 rpm.
Makes differ, check your machine’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a programme does, how hot and how long.
- What it looks like
- A cotton boll — a round fluffy head of three or four lobes on a short stem — or, on some hOn-connected machines, a plain T-shirt.
- Names makers use
- Cotton (Hotpoint, Hoover, hOn); Cottons (Miele, Beko)
Where makes differ
Hoover draws it as a ball of cotton and hOn as “a t-shirt or cotton flower”; Hotpoint and Miele print the word. Hotpoint’s dial has both Cotton and Eco 40-60 — Cotton is the one to use when you need a set temperature, Eco 40-60 the one that saves energy at the cost of time.
What the makers tie to the care label
The maker’s own words, quoted from the manual cited below — not our advice. The care label on the garment comes first.
“Follow the instructions on the symbols of the garment’s wash care label. The value indicated in the symbol is the maximum recommended temperature for washing the garment.”
— Hotpoint’s manual (source). What each wash-tub temperature on a care label means →
Often confused with
The EU test programme for normally soiled cottons labelled 40 °C or 60 °C, washed together: the most energy- and water-efficient cotton wash, which is why it runs for hours.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 4 makers’ own guides and manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Hoover: Hoover UK — What do the symbols on your washing machine actually mean? — “A ball of cotton, for cotton garments” — first of the classic-cycle symbols. Checked 2026-09-25.
- hOn (Haier Europe): hOn — Washing Machine Symbols: how to interpret them with hOn — “Cotton: symbolized by a t-shirt or cotton flower.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- Hotpoint: Hotpoint washing machine Quick Guide (GB, PDF) — Cotton: “Normally to heavily soiled and robust cottons.” Wash cycle table: 40 °C default, range cold–60 °C, up to 1600 rpm, 10 kg. Checked 2026-09-25.
- Miele: Miele — Operating instructions for washing machines, WWV 980 WPS Passion (PDF) — Programme chart: Cottons, 90 °C to cold, max 9.0 kg — cotton, linen or mixed fibre fabric, e.g. table linen, underwear, T-shirts; 60 °C or higher where particularly high hygiene is required. Checked 2026-09-25.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.