How to Clean an Office Chair: Fabric, Mesh, Cushion and Refurbished Chairs

Here's how to clean an office chair without hurting it: vacuum it first, then check the maker's care instructions or the fabric's cleaning code. On most chairs it's then a few drops of mild soap in warm water on a soft cloth you've wrung out hard, worked over the seat, back and arms. Blot stains, don't scrub them; scrubbing only spreads them. Lift the soap residue with a clean cloth and plain water, and let the chair air dry before you sit on it.

Mesh, fabric and leather each need a slightly different method, so we take them one at a time. Since 2015 we've refurbished thousands of ergonomic chairs in Ohio, mostly Herman Miller and Steelcase, and every one, from the Steelcase Leap V2 to the Aeron Classic, is taken apart and cleaned before it ships.

The steps are the same for one chair at home or a whole office full of furniture. We also checked each tip against what Herman Miller, Steelcase, the CDC and the EPA publish, and a few popular ones didn't hold up.

What You Need to Clean an Office Chair

You won't need special tools or a trip to a specialty store. Most of these supplies and tools are probably under your kitchen sink already:

• A vacuum with an upholstery nozzle, not a rotary brush head
• Soft microfiber cloths for dust, plus a sponge
• Mild dish soap, and a spray bottle to mix it in
• 70% isopropyl alcohol from the pharmacy aisle, and a box of baking soda
• An upholstery cleaner that uses no water, but only if your chair's code is S

Then hunt down the cleaning code. Furniture makers use a one-letter system for what a material can handle: W for water-based, S for solvent only, WS (also printed W/S) for either, and X for vacuum or light brushing only. Steelcase puts a code on every textile in its surface materials guide; Herman Miller doesn't bother with letters and spells its care instructions out in full. If there's no tag and you don't know the material, ask whoever sold you the chair, and spot test any cleaner on a hidden area first to make sure it doesn't discolor the fabric.

How to Clean a Fabric Office Chair with a Soap and Water Solution

Grit is what wears a textile out. Kvadrat, the Danish textile maker, says dust and dirt break a textile down, so regular vacuuming does more for its life than any cleaner, and it's the maintenance that matters most. Run the nozzle along the seams and underneath, where crumbs collect, and remove dust and debris from every part of the chair's fabric, underside included, before anything wet goes on.

Here's how to clean fabric office chair upholstery coded W or WS, taking a coffee drip on a gray Leap V2 as the example. Fill a spray bottle with warm water and a few drops of mild dish soap. Lightly spray a clean cloth, never the chair itself, and dab the drip starting at its outside edge and moving in. That's Herman Miller's method for stains, and it keeps a small mark from growing into a big ring. A second cloth with plain water does the rinsing. Then leave the spot to air dry, or hold a hair dryer on low over it if you need the chair back sooner.

Don't soak it. Excess moisture sinks into the foam, where Steelcase warns it can damage the filling, and the EPA says damp materials should dry within 24 to 48 hours to keep mold away. Steelcase's deep-clean method is one part clear dish detergent to 16 parts water, misted on and pulled back out with a wet/dry vacuum. S-coded material gets a solvent upholstery cleaner instead. The same steps cover how to clean an office chair seat on a Leap V2.

Steelcase Leap V2 Chair (Black Frame) Fully Renewed

Our fully renewed Steelcase Leap V2 starts over where most used Leaps are only cleaned and polished. We strip the old cover, rebuild the seat and back with new fabric over our extra foam, and fit a BIFMA-certified gas cylinder, fresh arm pads and new casters.

• Colors: seven colors, or Black Leather.
• Fit: built for heights of 5'0" to 6'4" and weights up to 400 lbs.
• Warranty: our 5-year mechanical warranty on this ergonomic office chair.

How to Clean a Mesh Office Chair

Mesh is easy to keep clean and surprisingly easy to ruin. For how to clean mesh office chair seats and backs, the rule is a gentle vacuum, very little water, and never a scrub. Brushing can damage mesh for good, which is why Herman Miller's Aeron care guide rules out taking a brush to it or using a rotary brush. So the brush attachment stays in the drawer, and the bare nozzle does the work.

Knocked a soda over? Blot it right then, before it dries. Later, a warm, mild soap and water solution on a damp cloth or sponge takes out any stains left behind. Soak up about as much as you put down, then finish with a cloth dipped in cool water. Never use hot water, Herman Miller warns, because it sets stains.

Oily marks take a dry-cleaning solution or, per Herman Miller, rubbing alcohol. Skip steam and abrasive cleaners. Aeron owners will find more in our Herman Miller Aeron maintenance guide.

Herman Miller Classic Aeron Chair, Fully Adjustable (Renewed)

Our renewed Aeron Classic is an ergonomic chair built to be repaired rather than replaced. Every one crosses our bench the same way: taken apart, inspected, rebuilt where the parts are worn, and tested before it's boxed up.

• Sizes: pick A, B or C, with graphite or colored mesh.
• Casters: soft ones we make ourselves, quiet on carpet and easy on hard floors.
• Warranty: it comes with our 5-year mechanical warranty.

If stains on your own Aeron Classic won't come out, we sell seat mesh and back mesh for it, so you replace the panel, not the chair.

How to Clean a Leather Office Chair

Real leather gets the lightest touch of anything here. Dust it with a dry soft cloth. To wash it when it's dirty, Herman Miller says to treat the whole seat or back, never just one spot, with a mild lather and very little lukewarm water, then wipe it dry. Steelcase specifies a non-detergent one. If that won't lift a stain, use a dedicated hide cleaner or ask a specialist rather than reaching for household products.

Keep saddle soap and detergents off it (Herman Miller says they leave the finish sticky and cracked), along with alcohol, ammonia, oils, polishes and heat, hair dryer included. Conditioner is where even Steelcase splits: its European care sheet suggests it once or twice a year, while its US manual sticks to the basics. Follow your chair's maker.

Steelcase Amia Brown Leather, Platinum Frame (Refurbished)

On our Steelcase Amia in brown leather, the leather is what we restore. Our team deep cleans every component, then gives the hide a specialized cleaning and conditioning to bring back its color.

• Back support: Steelcase's LiveLumbar flexes with your spine.
• New parts: fresh arm pads, new casters and a compatible gas cylinder.
• Warranty: our 5-year mechanical warranty on this ergonomic chair.

How to Clean a Faux Leather (PU) Chair

Faux leather is usually polyurethane (PU) or vinyl, a coated plastic, so it's easy: a little dish liquid in lukewarm water on a microfiber cloth, a plain-water wipe, then dry it. Two habits to drop. Leather conditioner does nothing for it, since there's no hide to feed, and PU maker Ultrafabrics says conditioners may void its warranty. Heat breaks PU down, too.

Alcohol and disinfectants are a maybe: some coatings take them and some don't, depending on the maker, so test a spot on the underside first.

How to Clean a Refurbished Ergonomic Office Chair

A chair from a proper refurbisher should arrive clean. We take ours apart and replace the worn parts, and the parts we keep, once they've proved mechanically sound, are cleaned with industrial cleaners and steam. Our renewed Steelcase Amia task chairs, for example, always get new fabric. After that, treat it like a new chair of the same material.

This video shows how our team renews a Herman Miller Embody, from cleaning or replacing the seat fabric to disinfecting, drying and a deep clean with our vacuum and detergents.

Buying one as-is from an office clearout is a different story. That chair needs the whole routine before it goes near your desk. That means you vacuum the entire chair, wash down the base and arms, treat the upholstery by its code, and disinfect the hard plastic and metal, which on a secondhand chair has been handled by who knows how many people. The supplies are the same ones listed above. If the cover is past saving, replace it, not the chair. We sell Embody seat fabric, and our Embody seat fabric tutorial shows the swap.

How to Remove Spills and Stains with Soap, Cold Water or Rubbing Alcohol

For stain removal, speed beats any product. Steelcase cites a study in which 20% of stains were permanent after one week and half after three. Blot, don't rub, and work from the outside in. For the usual suspects:

• Coffee: blot it, clean it with warm soapy water and rinse cool. Hot water bakes coffee stains in.
• Ink: a spot treatment of rubbing alcohol on a cloth, on S- or WS-coded material, after a spot test. As for the old hairspray trick, it only ever worked because of the alcohol in it, and it leaves a sticky resin behind. Skip it.
• Grease: dish liquid cuts it on water-safe material; S-coded ones need a dry-cleaning solvent instead.
• Blood: cold water and nothing warmer, since heat sets the protein into the fibers.

How to Get Smells Out of an Office Chair

Start by parking the chair by an open window so it can air out. Baking soda does help, though not for the reason most people give: McGill University's Office for Science and Society explains that it neutralizes the acidic odors it touches rather than soaking up smells. Most sweat odor comes from acids, so that's where it shines. Shake it over the seat, give it a few hours, then vacuum it up. It won't reach a smell that's gone deep into the foam.

A light mist of diluted vinegar is fine on W or WS material once you've tried it somewhere hidden. To get rid of a smell in the cushion itself, use the Steelcase method above or replace the cushion.

How to Clean Office Chair Wheels and Casters

Tip the chair over, pull the hair and thread off the axles (tweezers are the best tools for it), brush out the grit, and clear the dust off the wheels and base with mild detergent and warm water, as Herman Miller recommends for its bases. If a wheel is cracked or still drags, casters are an easy swap: we make soft 2.5" casters for Herman Miller chairs, soft 3" casters for Steelcase chairs and translucent casters for the Embody.

Mistakes to Avoid When Cleaning an Office Chair

Some of these are habits. Others are myths that won't go away.

• Too much water. Whatever gets through soaks into the foam, dries into water stains and can grow mold. Spray the cloth lightly and leave the cushion dry.
• Rubbing hard. Heavy pressure and stiff brushes break fibers and can damage mesh. Dab instead.
• Harsh chemicals. A lot of glass cleaners contain ammonia, and ammonia, solvents and scouring powders can all harm a finish. Clean with the mildest product first, and step up only if you need to.
• Myth: disinfectant cleans better than soap. The CDC draws the line clearly. Soap and water get rid of dirt and germs; a disinfectant only kills germs, and a dirty surface gets in its way. So the cleaning comes first, and unless someone in the house has been sick, that's usually the whole job.
• Myth: disinfectant wipes or sprays take about 2 minutes. Read the label and you'll find a contact time, the minutes the surface has to stay visibly wet. On the common Clorox and Lysol wipes it's 4. A quick swipe that dries in half a minute hasn't done the job, and the EPA says to go by the label.
• Myth: antibacterial soap works better. Back in 2016 the FDA pulled 19 antibacterial ingredients from consumer products. The companies selling them had never shown they were safe for everyday use, or that they beat plain soap and water.
• Mixing chemicals. Pour bleach together with vinegar or ammonia and you get a toxic gas; the CDC is blunt about that one. For safety, use one product at a time and never combine them in a bucket.
• Myth: bleach is never OK. Keep it off most fabrics and all leather, but some healthcare vinyls and performance fabrics are made to take a diluted solution. The maker's care sheet is the only thing that should talk you into it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cleaning an Office Chair

How Often Should You Clean an Office Chair?

Whenever the floors get vacuumed, give the chair a pass too. Wipe the arms and base every week or two, since that's where your hands go, and save the full clean for a few times a year or the day something spills on it. Steelcase's own advice is a maintenance check once a year, more often if the chair gets heavy use. Researchers who swabbed 90 offices for a 2012 study (Clorox helped fund it) found chairs and phones were the most contaminated surfaces they tested, though mostly with the ordinary bacteria everyone carries on their skin.

Can You Use Disinfecting Wipes on an Office Chair?

Yes, they're fine to wipe and clean the arms, base and plastic parts. Herman Miller is fine with quat-only disinfectant wipes, the Clorox and Lysol type, on its mesh and most of its fabrics, as long as they aren't chlorine-based. Steelcase takes the opposite view on fabric and says disinfectants will damage most of it. Real leather is off-limits for both. And whatever you wipe, it has to stay wet for the label's full contact time.

Can You Steam Clean an Office Chair?

On the upholstery, the makers say no. Herman Miller rules out steam on its mesh, fabrics and leather, and Steelcase's word is not to steam clean fabric or use anything that soaks or heats it. Steam kills germs fast on hard surfaces in lab tests, sure, but a seat cover isn't one.

What Do W, S, WS and X Upholstery Cleaning Codes Mean?

Think of them as a care label squeezed into one letter. W: water-based cleaners are fine. S: solvent-based only. WS, sometimes printed W/S: either one. X: nothing wet, only a vacuum or a light brushing. Steelcase's codes are in its textile guide, while Herman Miller doesn't use them and writes its care guides out in words.

How Do You Clean an Office Chair Without a Steam Cleaner?

You don't need one to clean a chair well. A vacuum and a damp cloth get you most of the way: a few drops of dish liquid in warm water, a cloth wrung almost dry, a wipe-down, a plain-water rinse, and time to air dry. If a water-safe fabric needs more, borrow Steelcase's method and mist on one part dish detergent to 16 parts water, then pull it back out with a wet/dry vacuum.