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| My Eclectic Approach to Towels - Photo by Salt Water New England |
In a nutshell:
- Where do you buy towels today?
- What do you look for in a towel?
- Do you buy towels that last or towels that are easy to replace?
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Who and what makes a good towel?
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I buy towels that last. I am not wasting money on towels. I have a bunch of Wamsutta that are of an unknown age. I also have a ton of IKEA towels, because they are cheap and last a long time. I buy the bath sheet size. Wash in hot, hang on the line for as long as the weather allows. We like crunchy, scratchy towels that smell like fresh air here. As a side note, I make my own laundry detergent because the thought of chemicals in my laundry bothers me.
ReplyDeleteAre you willing to share your recipe for homemade laundry detergent? I would be interested. Thanks.
DeleteGlass of Sodium (Na2CO3), Glass of borax, 2-3 TBS of soap flakes (ready or homemade), if you wish, your favourite essential oil (8-10 drops).
DeleteMix it well, that's all! The cost is ridiculous, very efficient and much more Earth & Human friendly.
We do it for so many years, works great. However I don't need to add that it's not for cashmere, wool or silk clothes. Works with linen great.
I do 2 cups borax, 2 cups washing soda, to one grated bar of Fels Naptha or Kirk’s. Works very well. Vinegar in the softener drawer, and wool balls when it’s too cold out to line dry.
DeleteFrontgate. Very plush. Made in Turkey. Many colors. Monogramming available. I bought them because NY Times wirecutter column highly recommended them.(They said it was their most popular recommendation by far).I'm very satisfied. About $40 for a bath sheet. Much less than half what Frette charges and I can't imagine Frettes are more luxurious. Frontgate regularly has sales.
ReplyDeleteI have been very happy with Williams-Sonoma Home's nicest towels, over the years, and the L L Bean towels I sent my kids off to schools with have been surprisingly good.
ReplyDeleteI want towels to be absorbent and soft. I buy linen towels from Fog Linen - they come in several weaves - herringbone, chambray (striped), waffle - and they are all wonderful. They last forever, and get even softer with age.
ReplyDeleteI have been using terrycloth towels from Abyss Habidecor for years. I first bought some in Harrods, but I have also gotten them from Celso de Limos in NYC. The towels are high quality, and come in luscious colors.
A towel for the beach - go cheap. A towel to use in your bathroom - go for plush, lush and beautiful - something that feels good and gets you dry efficiently.
I'd like to recommend a German manufacturer - Floringo (www.floringo.de/en). I found their Luxury Line products a few years ago. The fabric is very heavy at 630 grams per m2, heaviest I've seen. There's no turning back, I simply don't want to buy anything else now.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I prefer pure white but I do buy also other colors to be used as guest towels or to bring to the beach. This color coding helps laundry and tells which ones need to go where in our house.
I buy everything to last (like all of us here at Muffy's?) but true gems are so difficult to find. I actually have two towels from the 1960s which I inherited from my grandmother in 2001. They seem to be indestructible and are hilariously apple green and tomato red, with no fading whatsoever! There's also a gift towel from Ernst & Young that has been around since late 1990s. It has no maker's mark, only a slogan on the suspension strap: "Quality in Everything We Do". Indeed! If anyone knows anything about who might have made it, I'd be keen to know!
I have towels I inherited from my grandmother, too! Yet none of the towels I have purchased (some from very trusted sources) have lasted. Watching this conversation with interest!
DeleteI like 100% cotton, hydrophilic towels that are not plush. Ikeas' towels are great and they all have hanging loops. Once you have a towel with one, you'll find they are indispensable.
ReplyDeleteBath Towels: the best I've purchased came from Frette and they've lasted the longest. They're NOT cheap but they are well made. The day to day bath towels from L.L. Bean were just *okay*. Restoration Hardware towels are very good and have lasted.
ReplyDeleteBeach towels: I love D. Porthault. and I have some from L.L. Bean that have last a very long time.
The Worst Ever, ever, ever: Ralph Lauren towels are horrible, HORRIBLE.
Beg to differ, strongly. I have Ralph Lauren bath towels which I bought in 1993 and they have held up beautifully to this day. Excellent quality.
DeleteThe RL towels I bought from the outlet 25 years ago have been wonderful…and still look and feel brand new. My daughter recently bought some because ours are so nice and agrees with you…just terrible now.
DeleteYour Pendleton is a fine towel. Large. Smooth on one side rough on the other. Top quality fabric. Interesting designs. Have a look. Merci beaucoup
ReplyDeleteCostco towels have worked well for me.
ReplyDeleteLook at whether they’re Turkish cotton, then look at the grams per square inch. More grams per square inch means a thicker, more absorbent towel (that take longer to dry). We buy Costco Turkish towels, 600 GSM. We use them for a few years, then we cut them up with pinking shears for rags. if you want to go the other way, check out Brooklinen. Their super plush towels are more pricy; they’re over 800 GSM, really thick.
ReplyDeleteAlthough they come from a "big box" store, I have found that the Threshold bath towels from Target are quite good.
ReplyDeleteTarget used to sell Fieldcrest Reserve towels that were excellent and held up extremely well. Unfortunately they seemed to have dropped that line of towels.
DeleteI like all untreated cotton with one side soft and the other scritchy. It has been so long since I bought them that I have no idea where. I always buy white, same for sheets, but could see myself shifting to natural and organic to make a miniscule contribution to reducing water, insecticide, and bleach use. Anybody tried linen towels?
ReplyDeleteBring two white towels home from the country club on Saturday. Return and replace next Saturday. More absorbent than department store towels.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been reading here for years, and I feel that your comment may be the most New England thing I’ve ever heard, since my parents passed away.
DeleteStandard Textile pool towels.
ReplyDeleteLL Bean and William Sonoma are good and not pricey.
ReplyDeleteI bought a set of towels almost 20 years ago from Costco on the cheap I rented my first apartment, and I take good care of them, so I still have them. If I had to replace them now, I’m not sure I’d buy them there unless I could verify the quality hasn’t declined. I’ve replenished the washcloths from various places over the years—as those wear out, I downgrade them to paper-towel-alternative status to dry my hands in the kitchen. All white, bleach them every once in awhile. Nothing fancy, just towels that match and last a long time. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for beach towels, I have a favorite one my mom monogrammed for me a long time ago and one I got at a Jimmy Buffett concert as a souvenir after too many margaritas. 😜 The rest are “guest” beach towels in various Lilly Pulitzer prints I purchased 10ish years ago to add a fun pop of color to my guest room. They’re all stored away in the linen closet now, but friends love using them when they’re in town. (I live at the beach, so guest beach towels are a thing.) 😉
L. L. Bean towels have served us well for many a year! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteNothing new to add regarding towels except we've had the same for 20+ years and they still absorb. Maybe next year we'll get new towels. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that trusty metal cart in the photo we have in our kitchen. The microwave sits on top and the Pyrex baking dishes are stacked on the shelves. The cart too is around 20 years. The wheels make it easy to move when mopping.
Remember when Martha Stewart did a home goods line for KMart? I got some of her bath towels 25 years ago and they are still in really good shape, kind of a basketweave texture and very absorbent.
ReplyDeleteI do remember that line! The towels were very well made. I still have a set of the sheets.
DeleteYep, I still have some of those floating around here too!
DeleteCan anyone recommend a good beach towel. Spend 2 weeks every summer in the cape and a looking for a nice well made beach towel
ReplyDelete