Complete French translation table for care instructions, washing labels, and textile symbols. Copy-ready translations for your Shopify product labels.
French is the official language in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and dozens of other countries. If your Shopify store sells clothing or textile products to any French-speaking market, your washing labels and care instructions need to be in French. EU textile regulations require comprehensible care information for consumers, and Canadian regulations mandate bilingual labels. This guide provides a complete French translation of all care symbols and washing instructions. For automatic translation across your entire Shopify catalogue, the Translate Product Images app for Shopify handles French and all other languages automatically.
TL;DR: Need to translate washing labels and care instructions to French for your Shopify store?
Here’s a complete translation table plus tips for the France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (Quebec) market.
If you sell clothing, textiles, or any products with care labels to French-speaking customers, you need translated washing instructions. Customers expect to see care information in their language – and in many markets, it’s legally required.
Here’s every standard washing label instruction translated to French (Français). Copy these directly or use them as reference:
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Machine wash cold | Lavage en machine à froid |
| Machine wash warm | Lavage en machine tiède |
| Hand wash only | Lavage à la main uniquement |
| Do not wash | Ne pas laver |
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Do not bleach | Ne pas blanchir |
| Bleach when needed | Blanchir si nécessaire |
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Tumble dry low | Séchage en machine basse température |
| Tumble dry medium | Séchage en machine température moyenne |
| Do not tumble dry | Ne pas sécher en machine |
| Dry flat | Sécher à plat |
| Hang to dry | Sécher sur cintre |
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Iron low heat | Repasser à basse température |
| Iron medium heat | Repasser à température moyenne |
| Iron high heat | Repasser à haute température |
| Do not iron | Ne pas repasser |
| English | French |
|---|---|
| Dry clean only | Nettoyage à sec uniquement |
| Do not dry clean | Ne pas nettoyer à sec |
France is the 6th largest e-commerce market globally with €130 billion in annual sales. French-speaking Belgium and Swiss markets expand your reach significantly.
Properly translated care labels signal that you take the French-speaking market seriously. It builds trust and reduces returns from customers who couldn’t understand washing instructions.
French uses accent marks (é, è, ê, ë, à, ù, ç) that must display correctly. Text is typically 15-20% longer than English.
When translating product images for your Shopify store, keep these language-specific requirements in mind. Your translations need to display correctly on the actual product labels.
You have several options to display translated care instructions:
For stores with many products, manually translating each care label is time-consuming. Our bulk translation features let you translate all product images and labels to French in minutes instead of hours.
Care labels are just one type of product label that needs translation. Consider also translating:
Now you have all the French care instruction translations you need. For a complete solution that handles all your product image translations automatically: