Note that MFs are still made from polyester and polyamide, like many other synthetic laundry fabrics, polar fleece, t-shirts, athletic wear, etc.
The other main difference is that synthetic fibers used for clothing fabrics get soiled with common organics such as sweat, common dirt and proteins and as such, household detergents are formulated with fairly precise combinations of alkyds and surfactants to dissolve or break down these soils. On the other hand, synthetics used for car care get soiled with fairly unique compounds, and frequently most of these ad hoc compounds are made up of generous amounts of alkaline cleaners and whatever soils they were intended to remove from the car.
MF-specific detergents are targeted specifically to clean synthetic fiber fabrics that are used with cleaning agents. MicroRestore itself was not created with the auto-detailing industry in mind, it has been marketed to pretty much the entire cleaning industry. Auto detailing, though, is where the market for these specific detergents blossomed, because of the precise requirements of detailers working like high end jewellers. A ISO-9002 cleaning company that uses MFs to clean thousands of offices every night doesn't really care if its cleaning rags are slightly stiffer or less absorbent after laundering them. I'm the same, my Costco-bought 3M ScotchBrite dishwashing cloths and towels get thrown in with the regular laundry, as they only get used for dishes and wiping up the countertops.
But everyone on here is so AR about topping LSPs, how many coats of this or that, spending money hand over fist to get the best possible products to baby their cars... Does it not make sense that when buffing out a clear coat that's just a few microns thick, you might want to go that extra yard?
"My regular laundry detergent works just fine for cleaning my Ultra Plush MFs" sounds to me an awful lot like "my regular Great Value dishwashing liquid works just fine for washing my Maserati." /headscratch
