Choosing the Right Microfiber Towels: The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you've already heard of microfiber and how its tiny fibers create superior cleaning results. Unfortunately, most people's education on microfiber ends with surface-level knowledge, leaving them completely unequipped to buy microfiber correctly in today’s vast microfiber market full of thousands of options.

As a result, too many people buy a subpar quality microfiber or microfiber designed for the wrong task or overpay for overhyped average microfiber that preys on people's lack of technical knowledge.

As a professional cleaning expert with over 20 years in the industry who has tested literally thousands of cleaning products, it breaks my heart to see people wasting their hard-earned money and not getting the incredible results they should be getting from the right microfiber towels.

Thus, I am here to right this wrong, quickly level up your knowledge on what to look for in microfiber towels, and reveal what types of towels are best for the most popular cleaning tasks. If you give me four minutes, I’ll equip you with the knowledge to confidently buy the right types of towels at the right quality for truly transformative results.

1. Why Microfiber?

So, I’ve written a multiple-page article on the science of Microfiber, but I want to get you to the meat of this article, where I explain which towels do what, so this is the quick reader’s digest! Long story short, microfiber outperforms any other cleaning fabric because it is made with super tiny fibers that vastly increase the surface area (over 10x more than cotton), so inch per inch it has way more room to hold dirt and liquid.

High-quality microfiber goes further, making the fibers even thinner and shredding the sides of the strands, creating even more surface area and, most importantly, friction, which traps dirt and germs and won’t let them escape.

The net-net is that high-quality microfiber can hold 99.54% of dirt and bacteria vs. cotton’s embarrassing 67% and won’t redeposit dirt like cotton does. It also lasts over 300 washes versus cotton’s abysmal 30 washes.

The most condemning of all, EPA testing has shown microfiber to reduce labor by a minimum of 20%, which equals 50 fewer hours of cleaning a year even for just the average home consumer, never mind professional cleaners! All these stats were generated with average microfiber, so premium quality towels like Microfiber Wholesale only go up from here!

2. Manufacturing Quality Matters

Speaking of premium towels, let’s take a quick moment to ensure you’re getting what you pay for when investing in microfiber. The biggest differences between bargain and quality microfiber are fiber thinness, stand splitting, towel density, weave quality, and sewing workmanship.

Simply put, premium products will be made with finer strands, shredded to create more dirt-locking friction, with more fibers per square inch, better weaving patterns, and stronger sewn edges, all to create a more durable towel that holds more dirt tighter than their bargain counterparts.

Finer strand towels with higher density (measured in grams of microfiber per square meter = GSM) have way more surface area so that they can grab and trap more dirt with each pass. This increase in grabbing and trapping power makes every movement more effective so that you can clean faster with better results.

High-quality weaving and edging ensure the towels retain their threads and shape far longer through way more washes than bargain towels. For example, Microfiber Wholesale got lab testing to prove our towels retained over 87% of their original performance after 250 washes with ZERO visible wear & tear!

3. What To Watch Out For: Misinformation Menaces

Thanks to the surge in microfiber's popularity paired with the lack of education, the market has sadly become a breeding ground for deceitful practices and cleaning con artists.

Bargain Basement Barkers are those who lure in customers with unbeatable prices, only to end up costing them more money long term. They cut prices by stripping out performance, using the thickest fibers, airiest weave, and shoddiest sewing they can legally get away with, so you have to use double the towels that last half as long for mediocre results at best.

Half-Science Hucksters play a different game. They produce decent quality microfiber, but they cloak their products in half-truths and pseudo-scientific jargon, pretending their standard high-quality towels are uniquely revolutionary, and thus swindling consumers into paying as much as ten times more for the same quality towels they could get elsewhere.

Both types of cleaning charlatans exploit the same general lack of understanding surrounding microfiber in different ways. It's vital to stay vigilant, informed, and cynical, making sure you read the details of any product that seems too good or too cheap to be true, ensuring you don’t become a victim of these predatory practices.

4. The Right Weave for the Right Job

This is the part you’ve been waiting for! Once you've found a well made towel, you're only half done, as different weave and knit patterns drastically change how microfiber works on different surfaces. For example terry loop knit, with its fluffy bath towel like loops, helps microfiber glide over smooth and uneven surfaces with less friction and capture more dust, making it perfect for general dusting.

On the opposite side, waffle weave’s flatter pattern and deep pocket divets create more friction and scooping action, making it perfect to scrub dirty stovetops and scoop up sticky, slimy kitchen and bathroom messes like food and soap scum.

Multi-Surface

Terry loop knit with its fluffy loops helps microfiber glide over smooth and uneven surfaces with less friction and capture more dust, making it perfect for general dusting but still scrubby enough for real cleaner, making it the best all around default towel. A high-quality multi-surface towel should be 300 GSM (ours is 320 GSM!)

Economy Towel

These towels are a scaled-back version of the Multisurface towel but are designed to fit into tight budgets. They are still that fluffy, sliding terry weave that's great for dusting, with the same ultra-fine split fibers; they're just not sewn with as thick an edging or woven as dense. in our case, our economy towel is 250 GSM vs. 320 GSM, but watch out for other economy towels, as many are less than 200!

Waffle Weave

Is the scrubbiest version of 100% microfiber on the market. The weave's flatter pattern and deep pocket wells create more friction and a unique scooping action, making it perfect to scrub dirty stovetops and scoop up sticky, slimy messes like food and soap scum.

Pro Tip: This towel is AMAZING for people with sensory issues who hate the grippy feel of regular microfiber.

Glass Weave

Super tight and knotted weave that supports the tiny fibers and ensures they never break off and lint. The knotted weave also scrubs off the residue, so the glass towel is superior to all towels, leaving a lint-free, residue-free shine. Almost all debates around window cleaning sprays are actually consumers with different quality towels mistakenly blaming the soap for their streaks!

Scrubber Dishcloth

These super unique towels are woven with microfiber on one side and nylon scrubbing loops on the other side, so you get the absorption and dirt-grabbing power of microfiber and the non-scratch scrubbing power similar to the back of a kitchen sponge. Perfect for cleaning dishes and bathroom surfaces, but unlike a cellulose sponge, it can be washed hundreds of times (also available as a scrubbing sponge with a foam center).

Detailing Towels

400GSM dual weave microfiber gives you a terry and a plush side so that it can clean deeply. Then, flip it over to buff a shine into delicate surfaces like car finish, polishes, stainless steel, and fine wood. These usually come with satin edging to protect soft surfaces from being scratched by rough corners and edging, like car polish or other surface treatments.

Polishing Towel

The softest weave available, 450 GSM Coral Fleece Weave, gives you an incredibly fluffy, supple, and dense towel that can gently polish anything to a brilliant shine with a fabric that feels like expensive teddy bear fur! These usually come with satin edging to protect delicate surfaces from being scratched by rough corners and edging.

Pro Tip: They also make amazing makeup remover towels for 1/10 the price of the makeup industry knock-offs.

Suede & Silk Lens Cloths

These specialty weaves are designed to clean glasses, screens like TVs and smartphones, as well as equipment like telescope and camera lenses. These weaves are incredibly soft, absorbent, and lint-free, so they remove every speck off the glass. They're too smooth for general house cleaning, but invaluable for caring for lenses, tablets, and tech. Suede tends to be better at absorbing oils and grime, but silk tends to be the smoothest, with absolutely zero lint results.

Semi-Disposables

These towels allow cleaners to have their cake and eat it, too! They are woven in a terry loop weave like an all-purpose towel, but with ultrasonic cut edges instead of sewn, which makes them durable enough to be washed but cheap enough to be thrown away. These are perfect for applications where you want microfiber performance, but you know the task will ruin the towel, like applying sealants, wood stains, or cleaning things that are impossible or unsafe to wash off, like paint, gasoline, infectious materials, or oven grease and carbon ash.

Disposables

These are very unique because they are non-woven and edgeless, so they're like a microfiber felt that mats tiny fibers together into a uniform fabric. The result is an ultra-low-cost towel that you can use to do things like clean up medical, hazardous waste, spread disinfectants, or any other task where you know you want microfiber dirt and germ grabbing abilities but have to throw out the towel afterwards. These towels cannot be laundered but are invaluable for controlling the spread of disease in hospitals and laboratories.

5. Variety is the Spice of Life, So Try Them ALL!

Most likely, you just discovered several towel types you never heard of before and wish you had an excuse to buy all of them, even just to try them for fun! You also probably read a few descriptions and thought, “THIS is the towel I’ve been searching for!!”

The good news is you can solve both those urges affordably at the same time! First, add the towels you know you’ll love into your cart, and then add a Variety Pack to your order! Our Variety Pack lets you try all the most-popular weaves: Multisurface, Glass, Waffle, Economy, and Dish Scrubbing, all for under $15.

You're bound to find your next favorite along with several first runner-ups, so load up on a sampling of all our best towels today!

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Escrito por

Melissa Homer
Content Contributor at
Microfiber Wholesale

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Melissa Homer is a professional cleaning expert with over 20 years experience in the commercial and residential cleaning industry. She is a highly trained cleaning professional, business consultant, and educator that specializes in cleaning product testing and research, premium surface care, cleaning safety, cleaning procedure efficiency, training documentation, and cleaning damage repair. Melissa has worked for some of the biggest names in the professional residential cleaning industry, including P&G Professional and MaidPro. She has been interviewed and quoted in numerous leading publications such as Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Consumer Reports, Better Homes & Gardens, U.S. News & World Report, and The Washington Post.

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