Guides

Laundry glossary

Laundry has its own words. Here they are in plain English, from par levels to care symbols.

Business laundry words

Par level: How many sets of linen a business owns for each bed or table. A par of three means one set in use, one being washed and one spare.
Changeover: Stripping a room or flat after a guest leaves and making it up fresh for the next one.
Linen hire: Renting sheets and towels from a laundry instead of owning them. Different from a laundry service, where you own the linen and we clean it.
Customer-owned goods: Linen that belongs to the business and is cleaned for it, then returned. This is how we work.
Short count: When fewer items come back than went out. Counting bags in and out is how it is caught.
Round: A regular collection on set days, for example every Monday and Thursday.
Rejects or rewash: Items that come out of the wash still marked and go round again before they are returned.
Chef whites: Chef jackets, trousers and aprons. They get heavy grease and need hot washes and proper pressing.
Napery: Table linen: tablecloths, napkins and runners.

Thread count: How many threads are woven into a square inch of sheet. Higher feels smoother, but the quality of the cotton matters as much.
Percale: A plain, crisp weave used for hotel-style sheets.
Sateen: A weave with a soft sheen that feels silky but can crease and pill sooner.
Polycotton: Cotton mixed with polyester. It dries faster and creases less, and is common in commercial linen.
GSM: Grams per square metre. For towels it shows weight: higher GSM means a thicker, heavier towel that takes longer to dry.
Pilling: Small bobbles on the surface of fabric caused by rubbing.

Wash and fold: Your washing is washed, dried and folded, without ironing. Usually priced by the bag or by weight.
Service wash: Another name for wash and fold.
Dry cleaning: Cleaning with a solvent instead of water, for clothes that would shrink, lose shape or bleed colour in water.
Wet cleaning: Professional cleaning in water with special machines and detergents, for some items marked dry clean.
Finishing: Pressing, steaming or ironing after cleaning so items come back smooth.
Pressing: Ironing with heat and pressure, often with a steam press, for shirts and suits.
Tumble dry: Drying in a machine with warm air. Some fabrics shrink if tumbled too hot.
Pre-treat: Working on a stain before the main wash so it has a better chance of coming out.

Washtub symbol: Machine washing. The number inside is the hottest temperature allowed; a hand means hand wash only.
Triangle: Bleaching. A crossed-out triangle means no bleach.
Square with a circle: Tumble drying. The dots show the heat: one is low, two is normal.
Iron symbol: Ironing. The dots show the heat: one is cool, three is hot.
Circle: Professional cleaning. A letter inside tells the cleaner which method to use; a crossed-out circle means do not dry clean.

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