Quality Parameters of Towels

A towel is a basic commodity product which we use day to day basis. Still, it is not possible for all of us to have the full knowledge about the towel. However, if we will have some basic knowledge of the product we will be able to buy a good towel from the market as an end consumer.

Like every product, there are some quality parameters for the towel that must be looked upon while sourcing towel as a buyer. In this post, I will share few basic quality parameters of the towel.

Basic quality parameters of towels


Despite having various quality parameters and quality checkpoints, as the end consumer, we can look at the following 3 parameters which are very important that should be checked for selecting a good towel.

Absorbency:  Absorbency is one of the basic characteristics that a towel should have. We use the towel to absorb water from our body, face, and hands. Therefore a towel should be good absorbent.

Shrinking property: Like other clothes, towel shrinks a bit after washing. When using the towel for bath, we prefer to keep its original size. If a towel shrinks more than a certain length we will not be able to wrap around our body properly. 2-3% shrinkage in length can be acceptable.

Lint: When the loose fiber comes out from the towel and gets accumulated in the dust collector of the machine, it is called lint. We must check that the towel which we are buying should not lint or even if the lint comes out it should not be more than the permissible level (this can be tested by a testing lab). 

You might have experienced, how a low-quality towel left a lot of lints on the face after use.

As I said all the above parameters are not such that you as the end consumer, will be able to verify while buying off the towel. However, you can check it by using one product before purchasing the same product next time. Throughout the year we use a towel and gain a little knowledge about the quality towel or at least you can go for a branded towel. People normally buy the same quality of the towel throughout the year. A towel is not a fashion-driven product which people change every time.

As a buyer and a retailer, you can test all these properties from a testing lab prior to sourcing.

Also See: Towel Manufacturing – An overview

Prasanta Sarkar

Prasanta Sarkar is a textile engineer and a postgraduate in fashion technology from NIFT, New Delhi, India. He has authored 6 books in the field of garment manufacturing technology, garment business setup, and industrial engineering. He loves writing how-to guide articles in the fashion industry niche. He has been working in the apparel manufacturing industry since 2006. He has visited garment factories in many countries and implemented process improvement projects in numerous garment units in different continents including Asia, Europe, and South Africa. He is the founder and editor of the Online Clothing Study Blog.

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