camera 18 that can produce a color image of the dirty laundry item 10 the at least one camera 18 determines not only the surface profile or topography of the dirty laundry item 10 under the clamp 15 but also at least one sorting criterion relevant to the sorting process this may involve the profile or shape the size the color and or the fabric surface structure of the dirty laundry item 10 hanging down from the clamp 15 the surface profile or topography of the dirty laundry item 10 hanging down from the clamp 15 as recorded by at least one camera 18 can also be used to determine that location on the dirty laundry item 10 that is particularly suited for being gripped by the clamp 16 of the transport system 13 this can involve an arbitrary location on the dirty laundry item 10 but if necessary also a significant location such as an edge or corner of the dirty laundry item 10 the dirty laundry item 10 is gripped by the clamp 16 of the transport system 13 at this location and transported along the transport system 13 to the dropping point corresponding to the sorting criterion in order to complete the sorting process it is conceivable that the transport system 13 or the clamp 16 of same is assigned a weighing mechanism which determines the weight of the dirty laundry item 10 hanging on the clamp 16 in the following the method according to the invention will be described in.