Towel Care Instructions Worth Printing On The Label

The five instructions we supply

Avoid prolonged soaking. Wring lightly rather than twisting. Wash under 40 degrees Celsius. Use a laundry bag when machine washing. Do not bleach and do not use chlorine detergent. These are the care instructions supplied with our towels and they cover the majority of avoidable damage.

Why soaking causes damage

Prolonged soaking weakens the fibre at the hem and the pattern edges, where the construction changes. It is also where a towel is judged, because a frayed hem reads as a manufacturing fault long before the pile has worn.

Wash temperature and colour life

Washing under 40 degrees Celsius preserves colour, particularly on reactive printed and yarn dyed designs. Hot washing accelerates every kind of fading and is the most common cause of a range looking older than its age.

Bleach and chlorine

Chlorine breaks down cotton fibre and strips colour. It is the fastest way to destroy a coloured towel, and in pool environments residual chlorine on a wet towel does the same work more slowly, which is one reason pool towels are usually specified in a robust construction.

Fabric softener and absorbency

Softener coats the fibre and reduces absorbency over time, which is the opposite of what a towel is for. Customers who complain that a towel has stopped absorbing are usually describing softener build-up rather than a fault in the cloth.