Buying Towels: Which Material Is the Right One?

Quality When Buying Towels

Fluffy, soft towels that do not fall apart after many washes – that is what we all want! We use towels every day, and these days they can be bought almost anywhere: in specialist shops, home furnishing stores, chemists and, of course, online. Below, we show you which criteria matter when buying towels and how to find the towel that suits you.

Material: Cotton, Linen or Bamboo?

Cotton is the most popular material for towels and, with good quality and careful processing, it produces an absorbent towel that you will enjoy for a long time. However, towels that are not made from 100% cotton can also be high-quality and, for certain uses, even better suited than pure cotton towels.

Cotton is a natural fibre that is highly absorbent and durable. The material is skin-friendly and also well suited to allergy sufferers. Towels made from it are fluffy, soft and cosy. A linen content in a towel, on the other hand, makes the material feel more robust to the touch and creates a light massaging effect when drying off.

There are also other fibres that are suitable for use in towels. Viscose made from bamboo pulp, for example, is very soft, breathable, quick-drying and has an almost silk-like sheen.

There are also towels made from synthetic fibres or containing a proportion of synthetic fibre. One high-quality and sustainable option is modal, which is elastic and stretchy. Textiles made from microfibre dry quickly and are very lightweight – which makes them perfect for use on the go, for example at the gym.

Weave: Terry Is Not the Same as French Terry

With terry towelling, twisted loops are woven on both sides of the fabric. This creates the density and volume that make a towel absorbent, cosy and fluffy. There are different production methods, known as “terry qualities”. Depending on which properties you want from your bathroom textiles, you can choose the right product accordingly. Walk terry is especially soft, twisted terry is more robust and firmer, velour terry has cut loops and looks like velvet. Then there is knitted terry, which is produced on special machines and is knitted rather than woven. It combines all the positive qualities of terry and is particularly well suited to sportswear and bed linen.

However, terry should not be confused with French terry. Although the terms sound quite similar, the differences could hardly be greater. French terry usually consists of a cotton/polyester blend and has loops on only one side. It is also much lighter and thinner than terry towelling and is often used for clothing, as well as fitted sheets and similar items. The towels we use to dry ourselves every day, by contrast, are made from terry towelling.

Handle: Extra Soft or Slightly More Robust?

Would you prefer a rather robust towel or one that is fluffy and voluminous? In technical terms, this is referred to as the “handle”, and it can help you find the right towel.

Our MÖVE SUPERWUSCHEL collection, for example, has an extra-soft handle, while the MÖVE BROOKLYN range gets its elegant appearance and feel from the special bouclé yarn made from cotton, viscose and linen. The MÖVE BAMBOO LUXE series stands out for its elegant sheen and special softness, created by blending in viscose made from bamboo pulp. The towels in the MÖVE ELEMENTS series are also soft thanks to their ribbed texture made from 100% cotton, but they also create a massaging effect when drying off.

So if you are looking for new towels in a shop, do feel them with your hands. See whether you like the handle, whether the towel is soft enough – or perhaps too soft. If you are buying online, pay attention to the product description: you will find plenty of helpful information there.

An Important Factor When Buying Towels: Colour

But no matter what properties a towel has, for many buyers the colour is actually the most important point when purchasing towels. After all, new towels and bathroom textiles should match the rest of the bathroom décor perfectly and create a harmonious look. That is why, at MÖVE, you will find a wide selection of different colours in many collections – making it easy to choose well every time.