ISO 3175 (professional dry cleaning)

ISO 3175 is the four-part ISO standard series for professional textile care. It regulates both test methods and labelling for all forms of textile cleaning beyond household laundry:

• ISO 3175-1: General requirements and test methods for evaluating textile behaviour in solvent and wet cleaning
• ISO 3175-2: Procedure with perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene, PCE) — the classic dry-cleaning solvent, symbolised by P in a circle
• ISO 3175-3: Procedure with hydrocarbon solvents (Stoddard solvent) — symbolised by F in a circle (F for "flammable")
• ISO 3175-4: Professional wet cleaning procedure — symbolised by W in a circle

PCE is effective and non-flammable but has been heavily regulated in the EU since 2013 due to environmental and health concerns (REACH Annex XVII, emissions rules). Hydrocarbon solvents are milder, less effective but significantly more environmentally friendly and dominant in new installations. Wet cleaning is the most modern branch — using water with specialist detergents and developed particularly for water-sensitive fibres such as wool, silk and viscose. For textile producers the standard matters because the care labelling per ISO 3758 (pictogram) relies on test results per ISO 3175. A garment may only bear the P symbol if it has passed the PCE test according to ISO 3175-2.

• Four-part standard: 3175-1 through 3175-4
• P = perchloroethylene, F = hydrocarbon, W = wet cleaning
• Basis for the care symbols (circle) per ISO 3758
• PCE regulated in EU since 2013; hydrocarbon and wet cleaning gaining ground