The laws of heraldry prevent any but the rightful owner using the coat of arms. When the society was formed in 1951,a simple "device" was chosen consisting of a cross, bearing in the centre of the cross, the initials of the Society "S.H.l.M." and the whole encircled with a red band carrying the full name of the Society. In 1970 / 1971 additional changes were made which included a cogged wheel of industry, the whole encircled within a Garter, Gules, buckled and bearing the title "Society of Hospital Linen Services and Laundry Managers". The black and white, divided by wavy blue and white lines, this being the traditional heraldic symbol representing water. Thus the symbolism is black to white through water, or, dirty to clean through water. The cog wheel is added to symbolise industrial machinery and the whole quite simply depicts the laundering process. The inclusion of the former "badge" is to retain sight
and memory of of an earlier phase in the history of the Society. Containing the whole within a garter is a tidy and also traditional way of depiction without encroaching too far into heraldry without proper authority.