Cotton Bath Towels

Details

Terry towels woven in Solapur, Maharashtra, in combed cotton at a measured 550 GSM. The plush hand that sells a towel on a shop shelf is very often a silicone softener finish, and it is the same coating that stops the towel drying you, because silicone is water-repellent. That is the central cheat here and it is easy to catch: put a drop of water on the pile and time it. An untreated cotton towel takes it up in under three seconds. A softener-finished towel beads it for thirty seconds, sometimes for a minute, and sometimes it never wets out at all, and the owner concludes that cotton towels do not work. The second cheat is GSM, declared rather than measured, so a 400 GSM towel is sold as 550 and only a scale finds out. The third is the phrase zero-twist, applied to towels whose pile is plainly twisted, because zero-twist absorbs best and sheds most and almost nobody actually sells it.

• Absorbs a water drop in under 3 seconds by AATCC 79, with surface absorption confirmed by ASTM D4772
• No silicone softener and no water-repellent finish of any kind on the pile
• 550 GSM measured on a cut disc, so a 75 x 150 cm bath towel weighs about 620 g and a 40 x 60 cm hand towel about 130 g
• Low-twist combed cotton pile at about 3 turns per inch, which we state rather than calling it zero-twist. Zero-twist absorbs slightly better and sheds considerably more lint, and this is the deliberate middle
• Two-ply cotton ground with a dobby border, double-stitched hems at all four sides
• No optical brightener, so the white stays the colour it is instead of fading out of a fluorescent white over ten washes
• Azo-free below 30 mg per kg on the 24 restricted amines
• Residual shrinkage under 6 percent after three washes, ISO 6330. Terry shrinks more than flat cloth and that figure is honest rather than flattering
• An unsoftened towel feels slightly firmer in the pack than a supermarket one and softens over about five washes. Wash it before first use, expect some lint for the first two washes, and never use fabric softener on it, which recreates the exact problem this towel exists to avoid.