Tumble dry, high heat
An ISO 3758 tumble-dry circle with three dots, indicating tumble drying at a high heat setting is permitted.
What it means
Three dots inside the dryer circle allow the hottest tumble cycle. This is reserved for robust fabrics — typically sturdy white cottons, towels and bed linen — that dry quickly and tolerate high temperatures.
What to do
Reserve high heat for towels, sheets and heavy cottons that explicitly allow it. Avoid it for synthetics and prints, and clean the lint filter every load, because high heat raises the fire and energy cost of trapped lint.
How to use this term
Use this drying symbol before choosing tumble heat, line drying, flat drying or shade drying.
- Read tumble dry, high heat with the other symbols on the same care label; the strictest symbol wins.
- Match the instruction to the garment's most fragile part, including trims, lining, prints and finishes.
- If the label, fabric behaviour and stain method disagree, test a hidden area or choose the lower-risk route.
Common mistake
Three dots mark the highest heat a fabric can survive, not the setting it needs on most loads. Even sturdy cotton can shrink a little more, and towels can lose pile and absorbency over repeated hot cycles — part of why old towels often feel thin and tee shirts slowly creep smaller. Treat high heat as a ceiling: when a load is nearly dry, finish it on medium.
For the broader method, use the How to keep towels soft and fluffy and then return to this term when the label changes the safe option.
Related terms
Sources
- ISO 3758:2012 Textiles — Care labelling code using symbols — International Organization for Standardization