1.1This guide lists general home laundering and commercial drycleaning textile care procedures and the associated ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), AATCC (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists), CGSB (Canadian General Standards Board), and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards available for the testing and evaluation of textile products.

1.2This guide identifies the national and international textile and apparel test methods available to manufacturers, retailers, importers, testing organizations and other related parties.

1.3This guide provides a list of test methods that can be used by the reader to evaluate the properties of textiles and apparel during refurbishing, textile and apparel care instructions; and, textile and apparel care labels.

1.4This guide is not intended to be used in the establishment of performance criteria, but as a guide for product development and purchasing contracts. The country of Canada, however, has some performance criteria cited in The National Standard of Canada–Care Labelling of Textiles in CAN/CGSB–86.1-2003. See Table 1.

1.5This guide is applicable to textile and apparel articles; excluding upholstery fabrics, mattresses, carpet, leather, fur, and yarns.

1.6This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.