Short answer
You cannot tell from the price, and you cannot tell from how soft it feels. You can tell from what happens the moment you wet it.
A good microfibre cloth soaks water up instead of pushing it around, leaves nothing behind on glass, and still does both after dozens of washes. You can check all three yourself, with a cloth you already own. Here is how to do that, and what to look for before you buy a new one.
Why two cloths that look identical behave so differently
The difference is in the weave, not in the material. Almost all microfibre is polyester with polyamide. What counts is what has been done with it.
Put two microfibre cloths side by side and you will barely see a difference. They both feel soft, they are both microfibre. Yet one wipes your window clear and the other pulls streaks across it.
That is because the word microfibre only tells you how fine the fibre is, not what has happened to it. The fibre has to be split to hold on to dirt, and the weave has to be tight enough to take water up instead of pushing it ahead. With a cheap cloth, one of those two steps is usually skipped.
The ratio of polyester to polyamide then decides how well a cloth loosens dirt, holds it and releases it again in the wash. That is exactly the information you will not find on any packaging.
Four things you can test yourself, in five minutes
All you need is a tap, a mirror and a bit of light.
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1
Water pick-up. Wet the cloth and wring it out. Lay it flat on a wet smooth surface and pull it towards you. Does it take the water up, or push it ahead? Pushing means the weave is too open, or there is still a film of fabric softener around it.
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2
The glass test. Clean a mirror or a window with water alone and a damp cloth. Then look at it from an angle with the light on it. If you see streaks or bits of lint, the cloth is leaving something behind. This is the clearest quality difference there is, because on glass nothing can hide.
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The edges. Tug gently at a corner. Loose threads and a sloppy edge finish mean the cloth will fray after a few washes. A cloth that holds its shape also presses evenly on the surface, and that is exactly what prevents streaks on high-gloss and paintwork.
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The wash test. Wash it ten times the way you always do. Does it still take water up afterwards? This is the test cheap cloths fail, and the only one that tells you anything about what you are spending per year.
What does GSM mean, and how much does that number tell you?
GSM is the weight in grams per square metre. It says something about density, not about quality.
You see it on packaging more and more: 300 GSM, 500 GSM, 1200 GSM. It stands for grams per square metre, so for how much material is in the cloth. More material usually means more room for water, and that is why the number has caught on.
But it is one figure out of the five that matter. A heavy cloth made of poorly split fibre still performs modestly, and a high GSM is no help at all if the weave sheds. This is the full measure:
| What you look at | What it tells you | How you can see it |
|---|---|---|
| GSM, grams per m² | How much material is in it, so roughly how much water it can hold | A heavier cloth feels fuller. Heavy is just not the same as good. |
| Fibre splitting | Whether the cloth grips dirt or only moves it around. The finer the fibre is split, the less product you need | The glass test. If nothing is left on the mirror, the splitting is right. |
| Woven or knitted | Woven takes up evenly and does not shed. Knitted cloths sit looser and let go of fibres sooner | Hold the cloth up to the light. With woven you see a tight, even pattern. |
| Edge finish | Whether the cloth is still intact in six months and still presses evenly | Tug gently at a corner. A loose thread now is a frayed edge later. |
| Behaviour after dozens of washes | The only thing that counts in the end | This is where a cloth for one season and a cloth for years part company. |
Fabric softener is the biggest reason people think a cloth is no good. It lays a film around the fibre, and after that even an excellent cloth takes up no water at all. A lot of disappointing cloths are simply cloths that were washed wrong.
The tumble dryer does the same, only permanently. Heat damages the fibre, and that damage never comes back. Air drying costs you nothing and buys you years.
Which microfibre cloth do you use for windows?
On glass only one thing counts: the cloth itself must leave nothing behind. That is a different demand from a worktop.
A cloth for the kitchen is allowed to shed lint, because there you never see it. On a pane you see everything. That is why a window cloth is judged differently from an all-rounder on three points.
A tighter weave. The finer the fibre is split, the less of it comes loose and stays behind on the glass. That is exactly what you see again as a haze in backlight.
A finished edge. A stitched edge that frays lays threads on your window. An edge cut by ultrasound does not.
No fabric softener, ever. On a worktop you barely notice it, on glass it turns an absorbing cloth into a smearing one. This is the most common cause of streaks.
If you want to see the types of cloth side by side, with what each one does on glass, it is all here: which cleaning cloth for windows gives you streak-free glass. And if you still get streaks with a good cloth, work through the six causes of streaks on windows. Nine times out of ten the cloth is simply too wet.
How long does a good microfibre cloth last?
Care decides the lifespan more than the purchase does. Four habits and your cloth keeps doing what it did on day one.
A cloth does not wear out because you use it, but because the fibre gets damaged or clogged up. Keep the fibre open and the pick-up stays where it should be, wash after wash. Here is how:
Wash at 40 degrees. Warm enough for hygiene, cool enough to leave the fibre structure intact.
No fabric softener. No liquid detergent, capsules or beads either. iZi-Wash Sheets or washing powder rinse out cleaner.
Not in the tumble dryer. Air drying is quicker than you think and buys you years of use.
Separate from cotton. Towels leave lint in the weave, and you see that again on your window.
If a cloth suddenly stops taking up water, it is nearly always fabric softener. Wash it a few times at 40 degrees with iZi-Wash Sheets, or with washing powder and a splash of white vinegar in the softener compartment, and let it air dry. The pick-up usually comes back. The full washing advice is in the care instructions.
What 15,000 reviews have taught us
We make our own cloths. That means we also hear about everything that goes wrong.
On Trustpilot, Judge.me and WebwinkelKeur there are more than 15,000 reviews of iZi-Clean, with an average of 4.8 out of 5 and 98 per cent satisfied customers. More than 300,000 households clean this way. That is a lot, but what comes back is more interesting than how much.
reviews on three independent platforms
average score on Trustpilot
its own weight in moisture that the Wonder Cloth holds
The comments we get are almost never about the weave. They are about fabric softener, about the tumble dryer, and about a cloth that has been dragged along a sharp edge. That is exactly why our washing advice is on the packaging and not somewhere in the small print.
What you cannot see in the shop
No packaging tells you what the cloth does after the tenth wash. That is where the whole difference sits.
A cloth that costs pennies does not look expensive. Four of those cloths, replaced every quarter, certainly are, especially if you are buying cleaning products alongside them because they do not work with water alone. Work it out over a year instead of over one receipt.
Because that is the real gain from a cloth that passes the test: you clean with water, you are up to 50% quicker, and you soon save more than 100 euros a year on cleaning products. That keeps running, year after year.
Want to see it point by point, side by side? A cheap microfibre cloth against a professional one.
Where most people start
First run the four tests yourself, and only then the value pack. Not the other way round.
- Dark Pack, 4 cloths · 60 x 40 cm, to run the glass test with
- iZi-Clean Wonder Cloth, 12 pack · the value pack, 3 packs of 4
- Drying Towel M, 60 x 40 cm · takes up to 800 ml of water, for finishing off
Frequently asked questions
How do you recognise a good microfibre cloth?
By three things you can test yourself: it takes water up instead of pushing it ahead, it leaves no streaks or lint on glass, and it still does both after ten washes. What it says on the packaging helps you less, because microfibre is not a protected term.
What is a good GSM for a microfibre cloth?
There is no magic number. GSM is the weight in grams per square metre and mainly tells you how much water can go in. A high GSM with a poorly split fibre still performs modestly, and a heavy cloth that sheds is useless on glass. Use GSM as one clue alongside weave, fibre splitting and edge finish. Our Wonder Cloth weighs 220 grams per square metre and takes up to seven times its own weight in moisture. That is not because there is a lot of material in it, but because the fibre is finely split and tightly woven. If you want to compare two cloths, run the glass test from this article: it tells you more in a minute than any number on a wrapper.
What is the difference between a woven and a knitted cloth?
Woven means the threads are pulled tightly through one another. A cloth like that takes up evenly and leaves no fibres on glass. Knitted cloths sit looser, and you notice that in bits of lint and in a cloth that stretches out of shape sooner. Hold the cloth up to the light: a tight, even pattern gives a woven cloth away.
What is fibre splitting and why does it count?
Split fibres have microscopic hooks that loosen dirt and grease from the surface and hold on to them until you rinse the cloth out. The finer that splitting, the less cleaning product you need. A cloth with too little splitting mostly moves the dirt around, and you see that again as a haze.
How long does a good microfibre cloth last?
That depends above all on how you wash it. At 40 degrees, without fabric softener and without the tumble dryer, our cloths last for years. With fabric softener you notice within a few washes that something is off. Care decides the lifespan more than the purchase does.
My microfibre cloth no longer takes up water. Now what?
Nearly always fabric softener has been used, or it has been in the tumble dryer. Wash it a few times at 40 degrees with iZi-Wash Sheets, or with washing powder and a splash of white vinegar in the softener compartment, and let it air dry. The pick-up often comes back. If it has been in the dryer, the fibre damage is permanent.
Why does my cloth leave bits of lint behind?
Usually because it has been washed with towels or other cotton: those fibres get caught in the weave. Wash microfibre separately. If it still sheds when washed on its own, the weave itself is the cause and that will not go away.
Are microfibre cloths better than cotton?
For cleaning, yes. Cotton mainly pushes water and dirt ahead of it, microfibre holds them in the fibre. That is why you get a streak-free result with water alone, where with cotton you need a product. And that product is precisely what leaves the streaks.
Is a more expensive microfibre cloth worth it?
Work it out over a year. A cloth that passes the test lasts for years, works with water alone and saves you more than 100 euros a year on cleaning products. A cloth you replace every quarter costs little on paper and more in practice.
Run the glass test with our cloth
Streak-free clean with water alone, just like more than 300,000 households. Start with a pack of 4 and judge for yourself.
See the pack of 430 days to change your mind. Questions? We are easy to reach.
iZi-Clean® is a registered trademark. Exactly how to wash and store the cloths is set out in How do you use and wash your iZi-Clean cloths?