I have done numerous stories on bathroom towels with retro style. I usually focus on the towels’ design. But anyone who has ever used and washed a bath towel a gazillion times knows that how the towel wears — or doesn’t — is even more important, in terms of making it a household favorite, not to mention a wise expenditure. We’ve had plenty of pretty towels start to unravel, or get pilly, or rough, way too soon. I am most definitely not the princess & the pea, so this doesn’t tend to bother me. But, other family members are *sensitive* types. Which means they are constantly, and annoyingly, wanting to try other towels every year or so. This is expensive! Towels should last a lot longer than a year! So now we get to the recommendation:
The recommendation: Simply Vera Vera Wang Simply Soft towels… but…
BUT, UPDATE Oct. 23 — The family now has washed the towels and bad news, some of the towels did not hold their color. They got that blotchy rusty look in spots. Dear Husband went online and found complaints. Although, there also seems to be info that these spots are caused by face care products. For this reason — and for other key reasons — recommendation: WITHDRAWN.
Where to find the best bath towels: Buy them vintage on etsy.com or ebay or at estate sales or thrift shops
Read through all the comments and maybe like me, you will come to the conclusion that the best value in bath towels is to buy them VINTAGE. That’s right. The bath towels made in th 50s, 60s, 70s — maybe even into the 80s — seem to have been much better made. They last forever. They may be “thinner” than the plush towels today — but *plushy comfort* aside, they seem to be more absorbent. They don’t pill… again, they seem to last on and on.
Where to find them: Search etsy.com — where I usually can find a good selection, including New Old Stock. Check ebay, too. These sellers probably found these towels at estate sales and thrift shops like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Also check with family — parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles — they might have extras (including New Old Stock they never opened) that they would be happy to give you, once you admired them.
Sam Benton says
As newlyweds, DH and I bought two sets (bath towel, hand towel, washcloth) of Cannon Royal Family. Some were lost, but 21 years later the two items we still have are the softest towels we own! and the color is still perfect (they always get chlorine bleach, too). The stitching popped along the edges after several years, but a needle and thread fixed that in about three minutes. The towels are small compared to what you find today, but still very absorbent, and if I’d known they were an endangered species, I’d have bought another piece every month until my linen closet was full! Even after four children, these are still my favorite towels.