Technical meaning of "Wash this when dirty" on a T-shirt's label?

Factual Questions
1

Recently I bought a cotton, Puma-brand T-shirt that has a label at the back of the neck hole saying:



(obverse)
[Puma logo]      [size information for 
puma.com          various countries]

(reverse)
[symbol of a water drop]
  WASH THIS
  WHEN DIRTY

I am stumped for the meaning of “WASH THIS WHEN DIRTY”. Googling for the phrase only gives some photographs of this label from other items of Puma apparel (e.g. here) plus some blog posts etc. ridiculing it, but no hard information about what it actually means to convey. It cannot, simply cannot mean what it ostensibly means - that would be too awful to contemplate.

There is a label elsewhere on the shirt giving standard care symbols (max. washing temperature/iron setting etc.)

Curiously enough the “Wash this when dirty” label is not present on two other Puma-brand T-shirts that I own. The fibers of the latter are 100 % polyester - perhaps it is a cotton thing?

Any textile engineers or fabric care experts around here who can shed light on this?

2

I’d guess it’s meant as a joke.

I remember a computer prompt that said, “press almost any key to continue” during an installation. Should mention that this was back when software installations were a goat-rope of participation. The immediate reaction was: “which key’s shouldn’t I press”?

3

I’m pretty sure it’s a joke. A tag on a shirt I had in high school said “Recommended washing instructions: wash in cold and tumble dry on low heat. Unrecommended washing instructions: drag behind car through puddles in parking lot and dry on roof rack.”

4

WAG

With the drop my guess it means save water as in dont drop it in the laundry out of habit, wait til its actually dirty.

5

Or, similarly, “Wash this immediately when dirty.” If you wait too long, the stains might not come out.

6

I went and googled it and found this quote:

“PUMA recently revamped its flagship store blueprint at Union Square in New York City to make sure its **quirky image **takes center stage. “We don’t want to take ourselves too seriously as a brand,” Ulrich says. “The way we talk to consumers supports an invitation for everyone to have a good time in this store.” Expect posters of peace signs that look like rabbits and silly advice like “Wash when dirty” to appear at any point in the journey.”

guess I was giving them too much credit.

link: (sorry its a pdf)
http://www.kendallross.com/press/07_10_01B_article/KR+POP_TIMES_GETTING_BRANDED.pdf

7

I had a pair of off brand pants that, under ‘Warnings:’, listed “Be vigilant of the Gestapo.” I wish I could remember the rest, they were quite funny.

8

Jokes on clothes labels are apparently not terribly uncommon.

9

Sorry to keep chiming in with non-answers, but I’m bored at work. Do you blame me?

Anyway, people who make their own stuff can order tags to sew into them. You can get anything you want on them from, “Handmade with love by Laura” to “I hope you appreciate this. I spent 134 hours on it.” I always thought it would be fun to get some obnoxious ones.

10

Well, it is good advice…

11

Perhaps it’s referring to the wearer?