A towel is a piece of fabric or paper with absorbent function used for drying or wiping a body or a surface.
It draws moisture through direct contact. Depending on their purposes we can categorize following types of towels, such as:
- Face Towel
- Hand Towel
- Bath Towel
- Beach Towel
- Microfiber Towel
- Kitchen Towel
- Sports Towel
- Disposable towel or non-woven towel
There is another type of towel called Paper towel are used in commercial or office bathrooms via a dispenser for users to dry their hands. These are also used for wiping, cleaning and drying.
MATERIAL & PROCESS FACTOR
A towel can be made with various materials but the main materials include cotton, lyocell, bamboo, cotton polyester blend, linen and synthetic microfibers.
These fibers are unique in their own characteristics. They have different absorbency, fastness of drying, weight and are therefore suitable for different purposes.
Among all the above materials, cotton is one of the best towel materials as it's plant-based, super soft, highly absorbent, and affordable. It also hold dye color well and even stronger when wet. Cotton towels are plush and absorbent for a quick dry while being gentle on our skin.
Towels also can be made with polyester which dry fast but it's not an absorbent material. Therefore we can use it for Kitchen towel, Sports towel and cleaning surface. Polyester microfiber is a very popular towel material for its functionality to grab dust and dirt from surface.
Bamboo is another good material to produce towels. It often blended with cotton or other materials. It's natural, eco-friendly, absorbent, extremely soft and dry quick enough. Bamboo has antibacterial properties which is very unique among all other materials.
Although cotton is the most preferred material for quality towel making but it's also important to know the source of the cotton fiber. Egyptian cotton, Turkish cotton and USA cotton are the best known for their fineness, extra-long fiber, which ensures higher durability, ultra softness and absorbency. A Combed cotton yarn made in ring-spun method is the ideal for a luxury towel.
WEIGHT FACTOR
Another important quality factor is the weight of a towel which is called GSM-Grams
per Square Meter. The higher the GSM the better the durability, absorbency, fluffiness and comfortableness.
300-400GSM towels are in light-weight category, they dry very quickly after use.Therefore they are very popular among travelers, outdoor & camping people.
400-600GSM towels are in medium-weight category, they are increasingly thicker and absorbent and suitable for face towel, hand towel, and bath towel.
600-900GSM towels are in heavy-weight category and these are the in premium luxury towel group. Due to its high density, they are highly absorbent and fluffy with highest comfort.
Face towels, also commonly called washcloths, are used for one of the most sensitive parts of the skin- your face. It is the smallest type of towels, usually a square shape and about 13 by 13 inches (33 by 33 cm), used to dry the face after washing. Face towels are also used to wipe off makeup, skin oil, face wash, toothpaste, and other residues.
Face towels can be made with pure cotton, cotton polyester blend, bamboo, linen and even with non-woven material for single use.
A hand towel is significantly smaller than a bath towel, typically 16 in x 28 in (41cm x 71 cm) and is used for drying the hands after washing them.
Linen, Cotton, and Cotton Polyester blend could be the most suitable for hand towels.
A Bath towel is used for drying the body when it is wet, such as after bathing or showing. It is typically rectangular with a typical size around 30 in x 60 in (76 cm x 152 cm) and is made of terrycloth.
Quality: A good quality bath towel should be-
- Thicker - thickness is measured in grams per square meter (GSM), the higher the GSM, the better the quality.
- Softer - towel softness depends on the quality of yarn and the thickness of the towel. Cotton from USA, Turkey and Egypt has good reputation to make high quality soft towels.
- Durable - Towels made of long fiber cotton and ring spun yarn have much better durability.
The best material for bath towels could be Cotton, Linen, Bamboo, and Cotton Polyester blend. These are highly absorbent and dry quickly.
A beach towel is usually somewhat larger than a bath towel, and often has a colorful pattern or printed. The main purpose is to provide a surface on which to lay down although often used for drying off after being in the water. They are also worn for privacy while changing clothes in a public area, and for wiping sand from the body or objects.
Beach towels are made with cotton, linen, microfiber polyester and its blends.
The sizes of a beach towel varies a lot. An ideal size could be 40 x 70" (102cm x 178cm)
Microfiber is a synthetic fiber, usually made of polyesters, polyamides, or its blends.
The grabby texture of the Microfiber makes the towel more absorbent which, in turn, makes it great for swimming, traveling, exercising, any activity that makes you wet.
The diameter of each Microfiber must be less than 1 denier which is equal to 10 micrometers and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair.
Each Microfiber strand is a combination Polyester and Polyamide. This combination is usually about 80/20 and 70/30- with the larger number represented by the percentage of polyester and the smaller being polyamide. The mating, of these two materials, brings together two great cleaning solutions, into one Fiber. No other Towel can compete with the Microfiber Towel's cleaning capabilities. In this marriage, the Polyester provides the cleaning and scrubbing power, while the Polyamide provides the quick drying and absorbency powers.
In the highest-quality fabrics for cleaning applications, the fiber is split during the manufacturing process to produce multi-stranded fibers. A cross section of the split microfiber fabric under high magnification would look like an asterisk.
The split fibers and the size of the individual filaments make the cloths more effective than other fabrics for cleaning purposes. The structure traps and retains the dirt and also absorbs liquids. Unlike cotton, Microfiber leaves no lint, the exception being some micro suede blends, where the surface is mechanically processed to produce a soft plush feel.
Smaller fibers can pick up more dirt and dust than larger fibers. Higher quality fibers are made with 0.5 denier, or smaller. This smaller size fibers allow the towel to pick up many types of Bacteria, Microbes and Germs.
A kitchen towel is quite simply any towel meant for tasks done primarily in the kitchen. They are more durable than other towels and made for absorbing. Kitchen towels are also hemmed with thick stitching around the edges for reinforcement, better keeping the towel intact over time.
Kitchen towels come with small to medium sizes in various design, used to dry dishes and hold hot utensils, cookwares, saucepans in the kitchen.
A sports towel is a synthetic or semi-synthetic towel originally developed for swimmers and divers, favored for its supper-absorbent qualities. Sports towels can be wrung out when saturated, leaving the towel able to absorb water again, though not dry. These qualities, along with their compact nature, have further popularized sports towels among general outdoor and athletic enthusiasts.
The absorbent material in sports towels may be composed of bamboo, linen, PVA or microfiber, with polyester woven in for durability. Some manufacturers incorporate a silver ion or compound treatment into their towels to better inhibit microbial growth and associated odors.
Among all the towels, Sports towels have more varieties in sizes and designs.
A disposable towel (or non-woven towel) is a towel intended for a single user, but not necessarily for a single use, as it can be reused but not washed. It is often made of non-woven fibers, and often is used in hospital, hotel, geriatric and salon or beauty settings, for their hygienic properties.
A disposable towel is a single-use alternative to a reusable cloth towel. Disposable materials were originally designed for healthcare delivery and have been introduced to industries outside of healthcare systems, such as resorts, hotels, hospitality, exercise facilities and households.
Disposable towels are used to enhance infection control, convenience and decrease economic expenditure. Disposable towels are used in fields requiring sanitary conditions for minor, precise, or dirty jobs of cleaning and drying.