Choosing the Best Bathroom Towels

Your best bath towels work hard every day to keep you and your family dry and clean. However, as well as a practical function, the towels you choose are also an important design element of your bathroom. A bathroom with a beautiful set of matching quality towels looks far superior to one with a hotchpotch of threadbare towels all in clashing colours. When choosing a set of new towels, it is not just about how they immediately feel to the touch. Some manufacturers add softeners to the towels so that they feel lovely and fluffy and soft in the store, yet after a few washes, you’ll see it is a whole different story. It is important to know how the properties and fibres in your towel will affect its comfort and longevity. Here are some of the things you need to look out for when buying new luxury towels. Most towels are made of cotton. Cotton fibres can hold almost 25 times their weight in liquid and are a naturally absorbent fabric. However, there are different types of cotton. Combed cotton has had the shorter threads removed, preventing pilling and creating a stronger towel. Egyptian cotton towels, meanwhile, have longer threads and so absorb more moisture per inch. Our Supima cotton towels have extra long fibres, which are super absorbent and give a luxurious feel. They also bear the COTTON USA trademark, which is universally recognised as an indicator of superior quality, purity, strength and comfort. Quality towels will have a double-stitched hem around the edges. This gives the towel additional reinforcement during use and washing, and helps to reduce fraying, meaning you won’t have to replace your towels as often. The heavier a towel is, the better the quality. Even the fluffiest of towels will weigh more if they are of good quality. This weight also makes the towel more absorbent, as does the density of its loops. A towel with thick and tightly-packed loops will be much more absorbent than one where you can see the base of the towel. To know a towel’s weight when buying online, look for its GSM, which is detailed in all of our towel listings. GSM stands for grams per square metre. A towel with a higher GSM (450+) is thicker and heavier, and so more absorbent and durable. As a guide, you should look for hand or guest towels which are at least 400 GSM, and bath towels which are a minimum of 500 GSM to provide a softer and more absorbent feel when getting out of the bath or shower. When choosing your bathroom towels, think not just about colour, fibre and GSM, but also about the sizes you need. Our Supima and Plush ranges also include jumbo sheet towels in some colours at a massive 100 x 200cm, as well as the normal size ranges from face cloths to bath sheets. Think about the amount of towel storage space that you have in your bathroom and which towels will fit as well as which you need.