For an office cleaning company, cloths are a small cost that touches every job. Get them right and your teams work faster, sites stay consistent and nobody runs out halfway through a shift. Get them wrong and you end up with mixed-up colours, a laundry backlog and emergency trips to the cash and carry. This guide is for contract cleaners and in-house facilities teams setting up or tidying up their cloth system.
Why microfibre suits office cleaning
Most office cleaning is dusting and wiping: desks, screens, shelves, door handles, kitchen points and washrooms. Microfibre handles both. Used dry, it picks up dust from desks and screens without spray. Used slightly damp with your chosen product, it wipes worktops, tables and washroom surfaces. Because it is washable, one stock of cloths can be laundered and reused rather than replaced every week.
Microfibre also sheds far less lint than cotton, which matters on glass partitions, dark desks and screens. Our guide are microfibre cloths lint-free? explains why.
Set up colour-coded sets per area
Colour coding is the backbone of a professional cloth system. Each area gets its own colour, and a cloth never leaves its area. Many UK cleaning companies follow the scheme set out in guidance from the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc):
- Blue: general, low-risk areas such as desks, offices, meeting rooms and corridors
- Yellow: washroom basins and surfaces
- Red: toilets, urinals and washroom floors
- Green: kitchens, tea points and food areas
Our 24-packs come in blue, yellow and pink, and many sites use pink in place of red. Whatever you choose, agree it once for the whole company, print a simple chart for every cleaning cupboard and make it part of induction for new staff. Our guide to colour-coded cleaning cloths has more detail.
Site-by-site tips
- Open-plan offices: keep blue cloths in the trolley in a closed box, with a separate bag for used cloths.
- Washrooms: store washroom colours apart from everything else, ideally in their own caddy.
- Tea points and kitchens: some contractors also keep tear-away sheets, such as our microfibre cleaning rolls, for quick wipe-downs of tables and counters.
- Glass partitions and screens: keep a dry cloth just for buffing glass, so it never picks up polish or grease.
Plan stock levels per team
The most common cloth problem in contract cleaning is not quality but quantity. If clean cloths run short, staff reuse dirty ones or borrow from the wrong colour.
A practical way to plan is:
- Count how many cloths of each colour one cleaner uses on a typical shift.
- Multiply by the number of cleaners on that site or team.
- Multiply by three: one set in use, one in the wash and one clean and ready.
- Add a small buffer for losses and cloths retired from service.
Our guide on how many microfibre cloths a cleaning team needs walks through a worked example. Review the numbers when you win a new contract or a site changes its hours.
Laundering logistics
Laundry is where colour-coded systems most often break down. Decide in advance how cloths get from site to washing machine and back.
- On site: if the client provides a machine, agree where it is, who runs it and where clean cloths are stored.
- At your base: collect used cloths in colour-labelled bags, wash them centrally and send clean sets back out with the team.
- Laundry service: brief the provider in writing on how you want microfibre handled.
Whichever route you choose, wash each colour, or at least each risk level, separately. Washroom cloths should never share a load with kitchen or general cloths. General advice for microfibre is to wash it on its own with a normal detergent, no fabric softener and no bleach, and to dry it on low heat or air-dry. Always follow any care instructions supplied with your cloths, and any laundering rules set by the site. Our guide on how to wash microfibre cloths covers commercial laundering in more detail.
Build in a regular check. When a cloth feels stiff, rough or no longer picks up dust, take it out of service.
Buying by the trade box
Buying cloths one pack at a time from retail suppliers adds up, in cost and in admin. Most cleaning companies are better off buying in trade quantities on a regular cycle.
- Microfibre cloths: 40 × 40 cm, 350 GSM, in packs of 24, with 12 packs to a trade box. Available in blue, yellow and pink.
- Microfibre cleaning rolls: 30 × 30 cm sheets, 50 per roll, 9 rolls to a box, in green and blue.
- Tea towels: packs of 20, with 10 packs to a box, for client kitchens and tea points.
Ordering several colours at once makes it easy to restock a colour-coded system in one go.
VAT invoices and trade accounts
A VAT invoice comes with every order, so your accounts team can reclaim VAT where you are registered. Regular buyers can open a trade account for repeat ordering. See microfibre cloths for cleaning companies for how it works.
Get a quote for your team
Tell us how many cleaners and sites you supply, and which colours you use, and we will come back with a quote for trade boxes. Request a quote or see our wholesale microfibre cloths page.
Frequently asked questions
What cloths do office cleaners use?
Most office cleaners use washable microfibre cloths in a colour-coded system: one colour for general areas, others for washrooms and kitchens. Some also keep tear-away sheets for quick wipe-downs.
How many cloths does an office cleaning team need?
Count how many cloths of each colour one cleaner uses per shift, multiply by the number of cleaners, then multiply by three to cover cloths in use, in the wash and ready to go. Add a small buffer for losses.
Can I buy microfibre cloths in bulk with a VAT invoice?
Yes. Our cloths are sold by the trade box, and a VAT invoice comes with every order.
Should office cleaning cloths be washed separately?
Yes. Wash each colour or risk level separately, and keep washroom cloths apart from kitchen and general cloths. Wash microfibre on its own, without fabric softener or bleach.