Should you give up on buying brand new bath towels and instead, hunt down vintage? I think maybe so — these towels can be found very inexpensively — and the quality is often outstanding. They last DECADES. Santa Baby was very nice to me this Christmas. He found these New Old Stock Fieldcrest bath towels in the way back of the workshop (or maybe it was on ebay for $29.95 no competition) and knew that I would love them. Can you believe it — they are still in their Marshall Fields box, wrapped in tissue paper with a gold foil Marshall Fields sticker. Absolutely pristine. Even DH was impressed, and he normally is not so keen on vintage textiles. They will go just beautifully in my blue bathroom — the one with the blue, green and cream wallpaper with the little red geranium pots on it! In my recent story about best bath towels for the money, several readers underscored that vintage bath towels just can’t be beat. Vee worked in the industry, and I loved her commentary. She said:I worked for Cannon Mills in their NY office in the ’70s. I still have towels from that job that are in excellent condition without fading. They were demoted to my weekend house 15 years ago because all the browns and oranges of the era looked better in the more country style of the house. All the deep tones of these towels are still intact 35 years later.
I gave away so many towels and sheet sets because I just got tired of looking at them which I now regret . Nothing is comparable in quality (unless you spend a fortune) to the towels that were manufactured for their so called value/low end line, Monticello, much less their luxury line Royal Cannon.
I still have a few terry distowels from that era that are still going strong and unfaded despite hot water bleach and hot dryers.
One of the things I look at when I hit a tag sale are towels, if they were made in the US, I will buy them if they are in decent shape.
Vee — I absolutely agree. At the summer’s best estate sale, I also found a set of vintage bath towels — Cannons, in an avocado jacquard — dirt cheap. I am using them. They are terrific.
Tina says
Maybe y’all can help me with sheets: I purchased two sets of king sheets 18 years ago when we first got a king-size bed. They were inexpensive; one set I bought at a department-store outlet shop and the other set I found at Sears and bought because it matched the first set.
Even though little consideration was given to quality at the time, these are the softest, longest-lasting sheets I’ve ever had. They are washed and washed and now have the feel of soft butter. They are so soft and so thin I am afraid any movement or tug on them could now rip them.
The only thing I can make out on the long-faded labels is Cannon. I’m assuming they are a poly/cotton blend percale, since my research shows that percale remains soft and these sheets don’t wrinkle at all.
Any ideas on how I can replace them? What I should be looking for?
I just purchased a new king mattress set and assume these 18-year-old sheets won’t be deep enough to fit on the new mattress. While I’m looking forward to my new bed, I hate losing my soft comfy sheets.
Thanks!
pam kueber says
Tina, I see NOS sheets on ebay fairly often… Worth a try relative to the fit issue… If you are looking to buy new, I have had a very positive experience with my Fieldcrest 450 thread count sheets from Target. Watch for them to go on sale…
Janice says
When I was doing my pink bathroom project, I looked and looked for vintage towels and couldn’t find any to match. This gives me motivation to begin my search again and this time I will prevail!
BlueJay says
Janice, if you have a Purple Heart Thrift Store near you, check there first. We have one near us and they trump both Goodwill and the Salvation Army. I usually leave with an armful of towels whenever we go, and I never break $10.
pam kueber says
They ARE around, Janice!
slopette says
Janice, if you’re looking for pink towels I just saw these pop up on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110803651269&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123
The Atomic Mom says
I remember having similar towels growing up. Searching for quality towels and linens has become the bane of my domestic existence. I wish, wish, wish, these were still sold all over the place.
pam kueber says
Yes, I am pretty obsessed with this issue, as well!
Trip H says
I love Cannon Fieldcrest towels, nothing holds up better than their towels. Its a shame the company is no longer around. Living here in NC, I live about 40 min from where the plant stood. In 2003 there were 7.650 people that were layed off from the plant because of the bankruptcy. Largest layoff in the NC state!
When I do find the vintage towels I buy them up and still have some that my grandmother use to have.
Annie B. says
Trip H.,
My father-in-law worked at the Fieldcrest bedspread mill in Eden, NC practically all his life. If he were still alive today, I’m sure he’d be heartbroken at what has happened to our textile industry.
Lee in Florida says
In 1965, my Grandfather bought a ton of towels for my uncle’s high school football team, and kept a few sets that made it to my Mom. I still have those towels, and use them often. Only one still has a tag, and it is pretty beat up, but it looks like “Treasure Chest” brand.
Wendy M. says
Beautiful towels! What a nice gift. I agree that the quality is much, much better with older towels. We had the same towels the ENTIRE time I was growing up…imagine my surprise when I moved out on my own and my new ones started looking ratty within a year! I’m going to keep my eye out for vintage…
JKaye says
I always look for good towels when I am in thrift stores. I recently found two great ones that probably are late 60s/early 70s because of the flower design woven in and the beautiful colors — one was avocado green and rose, the other avocado green and blue. My daughter was the lucky recipient. I am not sure of the brand since she has taken them home — no way she was going to leave them behind! They are towels that will actually soak up some moisture, as well as being pretty.
denise says
SCORE!! Look how rich and juicy they look! That DH knows you well.
I picked up a couple sets — wash cloth, hand towel, bath towel — and a couple bath towels, in the fall at the flea market, never used, pretty inexpensive. Have been meaning to post about them, maybe this is the impetus. I like the colors and designs of the era.
Jeanne says
Those towels are gorgeous! Good job DH!! I SO wish I still had the brown towels I received as a wedding present in 1977. I bet they are still in good shape, too. One of the brand new Ralph Lauren towels I bought a couple months ago (after your “best towels for the money” post) binding has unraveled along the edge. arg.
chris says
Hey Pam — had to respond to this one! I’m 45. When I moved to the big city in ’93, my mom gave me some “old stuff” she had to help set up housekeeping. Included in my loot were some towels she had been given as a wedding present back in 1964.
These towels are Fieldcrest, thick and pretty, with a pattern of big pink roses.
I married in 1998. The good quality towels I was given from Target are pretty much puckered and shredded in spots.
The Fieldcrest towels from nineteen-sixty-FREAKIN’-four are beautiful!
They truly don’t make things like they used to.
OFF SUBJECT — watched Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Lover Come Back the other night. Oh my gosh!!!! The interiors!!!!! The clothing! The cars! Seriously funny movie with lots of eye-candy for people like us!
Marion Powell says
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the info on Lover Come Back. I” ll put it on my Netflix list. I’m always looking at the interiors on old movies. Great for ideas and of course nostalgia
Pam,
Don’t know if you’ve done a post on this already but how about one with Chris’s idea. Movie interiors for retro decor.
Also, what if you gave us advance notice when you were going to do a
post on something you wanted our pics for or like this movie idea. It’s sometimes hard to come up with something right away and by the next day it’s too late; you’re on to something else. Perhaps a one line post just giving idea and day (retro movie interiors on blankday) would work.