Synthetics (easy care)
A gentler, shorter programme than Cottons for polyester, polyamide, acrylic, viscose and poly-cotton blends, with a lower top temperature and slower spin.
What it is for
Shirts, blouses, sports tops, poly-cotton sheets and other man-made or blended fabrics. Hotpoint’s runs up to 60 °C at 1200 rpm; Miele’s Minimum iron programme (cold–60 °C, 4 kg) reduces creasing; Beko recommends it with pre-wash at 40 °C for curtains and lace.
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 laboratory flask or beaker — a narrow neck widening to a flat base, like a triangle open at the top.
- Names makers use
- Synthetics (Hotpoint, Beko, Hoover); Minimum iron (Miele); Easy care
Where makes differ
Hoover describes the symbol as “a container” and hOn as “a triangle open on one side” — both the flask shape. Miele calls the same job Minimum iron and includes easy-care cotton in it. A flask next to a T-shirt is a different programme: Mixed.
Often confused with
A programme for a load of cottons and synthetics washed together without sorting, at moderate temperature and spin.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 5 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 container, for mixed and synthetic garments made of polyamide and polyester.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- hOn (Haier Europe): hOn — Washing Machine Symbols: how to interpret them with hOn — “Synthetic fabrics (polyamide and polyester): with a triangle open on one side.” Checked 2026-09-25.
- Hotpoint: Hotpoint washing machine Quick Guide (GB, PDF) — Synthetics: moderately soiled synthetic fibres (polyester, polyacrylic, viscose) or mixed synthetic-cotton. Table: 40 °C default, cold–60 °C, 1200 rpm, 5.5 kg. Checked 2026-09-25.
- Beko: Beko UK — WI 1382 washing machine user’s manual (PDF) — Synthetics: less durable clothes; gentler movements and a shorter cycle than Cottons — shirts, blouses, synthetic/cotton blends; “Synthetic 40” with pre-wash for curtains and lace. Checked 2026-09-25.
- Miele: Miele — Operating instructions for washing machines, WWV 980 WPS Passion (PDF) — Minimum iron, cold to 60 °C, max 4.0 kg: synthetic and mixed fibre textiles as well as easy care cotton; reduce spin for fabric that creases easily. Checked 2026-09-25.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.