I need to buy new towels. Suggestions please!

[Marky_Mark]

Hi all

I would like to buy new white bath and hand towels.

I'm looking for recommendations for towels that can be purchased in national retailers in the USA, UK and Spain (as those countries are where I spend most of my time) such as Target, Macy's, Tesco, John Lewis, El Corte Inglés etc.

Hopefully it's possible to find towels that are not only absorbent and dry you well, but are also soft and nice to use without shedding lint all over you! And while I'm in a towel buying mood, I should also get some new kitchen towels, too!

Have you bought new towels recently?

P.S. I always wash my towels at at least 60 °C (140 °F) and occasionally 75 or 90 °C and I always tumble dry them. Any towels whose labels say wash in cold water -- that instruction will be ignored as I prefer not to have to add chlorine bleach, despite its use in the washing machine being very common in Spain and North America.[this post was last edited: 12/20/2018-18:05]

 

[rolls_rapide]

How about 'Christy's'?

Or Marks & Sparks's own brands?

An old brand I remember was 'Horrockses'.

 

[luxflairguy]

 

Don't you have Costco now?  

 

[pulltostart]

For most of my adult life I purchased my towels from Macy's (Rich's before the name disappeared).  But now that I'm in Mobile, AL we don't have a store nearby so I've started purchasing towels at Target, with good results.  I've bought their 'Threshold' products (white) with no complaints.

 

lawrence

 

[ozzie908]

@marky_mark

I got some from Aldi and they have proved to be excellent value.

Have bought from Linens online too and they were great but I washed them to death....lol

Austin

 

[foraloysius]

Have you ever shopped at Hema?

http://es.hemashop.com/es/tiendas

Don't know if they sell their hotel quality towels (570 gr/m2) in Spain, but I bought those here in the NL and am very happy with them. Their normal towels are thinner, they are ok too, but not as nice as the thicker ones.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Thank you for the replies and suggestions!

Rolls_rapide: I'd never heard of Christy but I've just looked them up and they seem to have lots of stores throughout the UK that I can easily visit. I had thought of M&S as I would hope their towels would be good quality.

luxflairguy: we have Costco in Spain, but unfortunately there are only two stores and they are very far away from me, unlike in the UK and USA where there are far more Costco stores. I used to be a member but not anymore.

pulltostart: I did think Macy's towels might be good. As for Target, that's where we bought our current towels several years ago. They are "FieldCrest" rather than Threshold. They have been pretty good but have now started to fray quite badly (see photo) and they are also quite rough. I've tried various things to soften them to haven't achieved the desired result. According to a report I've just read in Business Insider, Target's FieldCrest Spa Towels are the best overall towel!

ozzie908: We do have an Aldi nearby. I'll check out what's on offer there. I hadn't thought of Aldi. Thanks!

foraloysius: I've never shopped at HEMA but we do have several stores close by in Barcelona. Thanks!

What to do......maybe I should buy one of each and see how I get on with them before buying a full set![this post was last edited: 12/21/2018-11:05]

 

[vacerator]

We got some

Nate Berkus towels from Bed Bath and Beyond about 5 months ago. They are large, and have held up to weekly washings. Made in India, same as the really nice Wumsutta towels they also carry.
They also have some from Turkey which we only use as decoration in the bath.

 

[Marky_Mark]

vacerator: They sound good. Are they soft? Do they dry you well?

I wanted to buy in a store rather than online so that I could feel them and judge their softness etc. But now I see that CR says that you can't judge a towel's softness when you buy them in the store because they are generally coated with something that makes them feel soft but it will soon wash out. CR link below.

https://www.consumerreports.org/video/view/money/shopping/5106875297001/buying-the-right-towels/

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Towels

We have many PotteryBarn and FieldCrest towels that have been great. I personally would buy the fieldcrest towels without hesitation again. PotteryBarn would be nice if they are cheap.

 

[askolover]

I'd like to check out Ikea's towels but we don't have any nearby...either Memphis or Atlanta since the Nashville store was cancelled.  I usually buy towels at a closeout store.  Just replaced several with bath sheets and I love them.  But I doubt you have Ollies Outlets near you!

 

[rolls_rapide]

'Christy' towels are quite plush and certainly expensive enough. Usually though, my mum gets them via some kind of 2-for-1 special offer through one of her catalogues.

At the other end of the quality spectrum, I bought a few cheap 'n' nasty towels from one of the 'Pound...' shops... short pile, not very plush, more of a serviceable towel.

Bearing in mind these El Cheapos were white, the wash label instructions were 40 deg C - with the broken bar underneath... Yikes! That equates to Woollens at 40 deg C! There's no way these towels would remain white on that programme. I regularly ignore the label and do 60 deg C on Cottons programme, or the Autocare sensor cycle at 40 deg C. They seem to hold up okay though.

 

[saj6952]

Based on what's available in the UK, I have to say I think The White Company do decent towels. Even their cheaper range seem to hold up well. I have a few sets that are well into their third year with no major deterioration. They get washed on 60c cycles every time and spun at 1600rpm which I've found with some other makes tends to result in fraying on the seams but not these. A couple of hours in the tumble after washing and they're as soft and fluffy as the day I bought them... Hope this helps!

 

[Marky_Mark]

Hi guys

Thank you so much to everyone for all the advice and recommendations. So many towel brands to choose from!

In the end I decided to go with FieldCrest Spa Collection towels from Target.
4 bath sheets, 4 bath towels, 6 hand towels and 6 face cloths.
I also bought 2 medium and 2 large Nate Berkus bath mats from Target.

I’ve washed them all and they are currently extremely soft and fluffy and are still shedding lint like crazy. They dry well and can absorb a lot of water, but they do dry you more slowly presumably because they are still new and fluffy. Time will tell!

Thanks again!
Mark

 

[appnut]

Are the bath mats rubber backed?

 

[Marky_Mark]

No they’re not rubber backed; they’re 100% cotton. My partner and I specifically didn’t want rubber backed ones for two reasons:
We like to be able to use our feet to move them around the floor in order to dry the floor and reposition the mat.
I also thought cotton would better tolerate being washed and dried.

We tested the slipperiness of different non-rubber backed mats on Target’s floor before buying. Some went slipping and sliding all over the place. Interestingly, these ones stay semi-stuck to the floor. They can be moved but not accidentally. I don’t quite know how they achieve that. We felt it would be the perfect balance for us between convenience and safety.

 

[appnut]

Mark, thank you.  I needed something like that which could be washed in the front loader without the rubber backing.  I'm going to have to investigate these.  I'll probably order these online because of your endorsement.

 

I currently am using a couple of very heavy towels that are referred to as bath mats.  Like the real thick ones that can be put in the bottom of the tub in the 5-star hotels and similar type things.  

 

A couple of years ago after surgery, the home health care nurses kept removing my bathroom rugs I had in there and kept putting down towels.  So I knew I needed to do something similar.  

 

[Marky_Mark]

The larger sized ones we bought are even more “stuck” to the floor (presumably just because of their size) and are more reluctant to move compared to the smaller ones.

I just tried flipping them over to see what difference that makes. When they are “wrong” side down, they do slide. So the “correct” floor contact side does certainly have anti-slip properties despite being 100% cotton. Unless you need rubber backed ones for ultra non-slip, I think these should work well as a replacement for the towels you’ve been putting down.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Target refers to these as textured stripe bath rug Project 62 Nake Berkus. Search Target’s website for item number 064130289. They come in a range of colours and sizes. We went with true white. Two 20” x 34” and two 23” x 38”. They also come in 23” x 58”.