In the last decade, microfiber has become the cloth of choice for much of the custodial cleaning industry. Manufacturers of the high-tech fabric say it offers a host of benefits over traditional cotton, but many facility and housekeeping managers still stock their janitorial closets with both cotton and microfiber cleaning cloths.

Microfiber vs. Cotton

While cotton is a natural fiber, microfiber is made from synthetic materials, typically a polyester-nylon blend. Microfiber is very fine — as much as 1/100th the diameter of a human hair — and about one-third the diameter of a cotton fiber.

Cotton is breathable, gentle enough that it won’t scratch surfaces and very inexpensive to purchase. Unfortunately, it has a lot of drawbacks: It pushes dirt and debris rather than picking it up, and it is made of organic materials that can harbor odor or bacteria. It also requires a break-in period to disperse the cotton seed oil, dries slowly and leaves lint behind.

Microfiber is highly absorbent (it can hold up to seven times its weight in water), making it very effective at actually picking up and removing soil from a surface.

In cleaning products microfiber is a blend of polyester and polyamide (nylon). In higher quality cleaning textiles the fiber is split during the manufacturing process to produce spaces in each fiber.It also has a long lifespan when properly used and maintained, and is lint-free.

But cleaning experts say, when compared side-by-side, microfiber is clearly superior to cotton. So why do so many users continue to cling to cotton?

“People are resistant to change,” says Darrel Hicks, industry consultant and author of Infection Prevention for Dummies. “can’t believe people are still holding onto cotton as being a viable product when it just doesn’t stand up to microfiber.”

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