The fabric checker
Most cleaning damage isn’t caused by stains — it’s caused by the wrong product on the wrong fibre. Bleach dissolves wool, water rings microfibre, an iron melts polypropylene. Check yours before anything touches it.
Care guides by material
Every material below has a full care page: what it is, what cleans it safely, what ruins it, and how its stain treatment differs.
Wool Carpet
natural · moisture-sensitive
The premium natural choice: springy, warm and long-lived, but chemically delicate. Wool hides soil well and cleans beautifully with the right products — and is quickly ruined by the wrong ones.
Care guideNylon Carpet
synthetic · tolerates wet cleaning
The most durable synthetic carpet fibre — bouncy underfoot, hard to crush and forgiving to clean. Nylon takes dye well, which is also its weakness: acid-based food dyes can grab the same dye sites.
Care guidePolypropylene Carpet
synthetic · tolerates wet cleaning
The budget-friendly stain resister: solution-dyed so watery spills and even diluted bleach cannot strip its colour. The trade-offs are a fibre that attracts and grips oily soil, and a low melting point that rules out hot irons.
Care guideSisal Carpet
natural · moisture-sensitive
A hardwearing woven plant fibre with a beautiful natural texture — and the most unforgiving surface in this guide to spill on. Water is as much of a threat as the stain itself.
Care guideWool Rug
natural · moisture-sensitive
From machine-made loop pile to hand-knotted heirlooms, wool rugs share wool carpet chemistry plus a portability advantage — and a dye-bleed risk that catches people out.
Care guideFabric Sofa
mixed · moisture-sensitive
The catch-all covering — cotton, linen, polyester and blends. The cleaning method is dictated not by the stain but by the W, S, WS or X code on the sofa label, which is why the same spill needs different treatment on different sofas.
Care guideLeather Sofa
natural · moisture-sensitive
Durable and wipeable, which makes most spills a non-event — but the finish is a thin coat that alcohol, solvents and even baby wipes strip away, and an unfinished aniline hide drinks stains like blotting paper.
Care guideMicrofibre Sofa
synthetic · moisture-sensitive
The suede-look synthetic that resists almost every stain — then rings from plain water. On most microfibre the counter-intuitive rule holds: alcohol is safer than water.
Care guideMattress
mixed · moisture-sensitive
Foam and fillings that absorb everything and dry slowly. Nearly all real mattress stains are biological — sweat, blood, urine — which is why enzyme cleaners and patience beat any hard chemistry here.
Care guidePolyester Carpet
synthetic · tolerates wet cleaning
Todays budget-to-midrange staple: soft underfoot and effectively stain-proof against watery spills, which bead rather than soak. The trade-off is a fibre that loves oil — greasy marks and dull, oily traffic lanes are where polyester struggles.
Care guideSilk Rug
natural · moisture-sensitive
The most delicate surface in this guide. A hand-knotted silk rug is jewellery for the floor — and the only material here where the honest advice for most stains is to do almost nothing yourself.
Care guideCotton Rug
natural · tolerates wet cleaning
The washable one: flatweave and rag rugs in cotton are the only rugs here that may genuinely belong in a washing machine. Cool water and a dye test are the price of that convenience.
Care guideShaggy Rug
synthetic · tolerates wet cleaning
Deep, soft and surprisingly hard to clean: everything spilled on a shaggy rug disappears down between the strands, and matting the pile through over-enthusiastic scrubbing is as damaging as any stain.
Care guideVelvet Sofa
mixed · moisture-sensitive
The light-catching pile fabric where HOW you touch it matters as much as what you clean it with: wiped, soaked or scrubbed velvet keeps a visible bruise long after the stain is gone.
Care guideSuede Sofa
natural · moisture-sensitive
The nap-finished leather that water marks on contact. Suede cleaning is done with a brush, an eraser and absorbent powder — almost never with anything wet.
Care guideLinen Sofa
natural · moisture-sensitive
Elegant, breathable and unforgiving of casual cleaning: linen shrugs off dry soil but tide-marks from water, shrinks from heat and fuzzes from scrubbing.
Care guideCotton Sofa
natural · moisture-sensitive
The classic natural cover: absorbent, so spills soak in quickly, but honest to clean — cool water and mild detergent handle most stains if the dye test passes first.
Care guideCar Seat (Fabric)
synthetic · moisture-sensitive
Hardwearing fabric in the worst drying environment in this guide: a sealed cabin. The cleaning chemistry is ordinary — the ventilation and drying discipline is what makes car seats different.
Care guideCar Seat (Leather)
natural · moisture-sensitive
Sofa leather living in a greenhouse: the same pigmented finish as a leather sofa, aged prematurely by sun and cabin heat. Prompt wiping and regular conditioning matter even more here.
Care guideCurtains
mixed · moisture-sensitive
Metres of fabric hanging in sunlight: often dry-clean-only, usually lined, and prone to shrinking unevenly. The care label — not the stain — decides the method.
Care guideThe care-code cheat sheet
On upholstery labels: W means water-based cleaners, S means solvent only, WS means either, X means vacuum only. The code outranks any internet advice — including ours.
The universal rule
Whatever the material: spot-test somewhere hidden first, blot rather than rub, and use the least moisture that does the job.