Cleancore is an aesthetic centered around clean objects and environments. This includes items such as antibacterial soaps, UV lights, antiseptic creams, and recently disinfected spaces. It incorporates visuals associated with hygiene and draws inspiration from Frutiger Aero aesthetics. The aesthetic is also known as Safetycore or Hygienicore , and its origins are traced to a Tumblr blog named Safety Corp, created by Redeem Pettaway in April 2014.

Cleancore can be broadly divided into two sub-aesthetics: High Cleancore and Low Cleancore . High Cleancore takes a more mature approach, featuring commercial products like Clorox, Febreze, and Purell. It includes ASMR soap cutting videos, latex gloves, and steam carpet cleaners. This sub-aesthetic uses key colors such as pale blue, white, and mint green, focusing on sterile emotions evoked by items like antimicrobial hand soap, deodorants, and humidifiers. It can overlap with medicalcore and features fashion elements such as surgical masks, rubber gloves, and hazmat suits. High Cleancore's visuals embrace capitalist imagery in a cynical manner.

Low Cleancore is aimed at a younger audience, incorporating imagery such as rubber duckies, bath sponges, Hello Kitty, Lander, and Johnson's Baby products. This sub-aesthetic has a bright color palette and is described as a kidcore twist on High Cleancore, featuring visuals like bath toys, baby shower caps, and powder pouffes.

Cleancore utilizes capitalist imagery while simultaneously addressing anxieties related to cleanliness and hygiene. This became particularly prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the aesthetic itself predates the pandemic. It is frequently expressed online through edits and "stim boards" on platforms like TikTok and Tumblr, which are intended to evoke a sense of calm and mental clarity. Cleancore artworks often feature PNG images of cleaning supplies, bathtubs, taps, and blue skies, aiming to be clear, fresh, and sterile while also being surreal. Artists in the cleancore space create dreamy, flawless, and sanitary settings with bright cool colors, incorporating household cleaning products, pools, baths, and tile flooring.

Cleancore, also known under the hashtags of safetycore or safety goth, originated in April 2014 on a Tumblr blog named Safety Corp, created by Redeem Pettaway. Pettaway conceived Safety Corp as a response to emerging subcultures within the Net.art community and a means to analyze societal shifts following 9/11 and the internet's evolution. The project explored questions about who deserves protection, how systems create false safety, and how certain groups are neglected.

Pettaway's blog used the sign-off "Stay Safe" as a forewarning and a call for vigilance. The aesthetic and its related terms like #Safetycore, #Cleancore, and #Antibacterial, gained traction on Tumblr. Pettaway's work, which included discussions on viruses, capitalism, hygiene, and community through isolation as early as 2014, anticipated themes that became prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, the concept of safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) became widespread. While the pandemic brought increased attention to cleanliness, the defining ideas and characteristics of Cleancore existed prior to 2020. The aesthetic, particularly High Cleancore, critiques the cynical capitalism that emerged, where cleanliness became tied to new, sterile, and privately owned concepts, rather than communal or traditional hygiene.

High Cleancore is a sub-aesthetic of Cleancore that focuses on hygiene and cleanliness. Unlike Low Cleancore, it emphasizes actual cleaning and antibacterial imagery rather than childhood nostalgia. High Cleancore draws inspiration from the cleaning commercials that gained prominence around the timespan of Frutiger Aero , sharing similar visuals due to their common use in commercials and marketing during the mid to late 2000s.

High Cleancore is characterized by a sterile and clean feel, heavily featuring imagery of soap, water, deodorant, detergents, and hand sanitizers. It can overlap with Medicalcore , creating a cold, sterile atmosphere, and shares color palettes with Icepunk . While similar to Frutiger Aero in its sterile feel, High Cleancore focuses on promoting cleanliness and hygiene, rather than aquatic or oceanic themes. Fashion includes items worn while cleaning or in clean environments, such as surgical and gas masks, rubber gloves, safety goggles, hospital gowns, scrubs, and reflective vests.