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These soft and absorbent styles amazed our textile experts and real consumer testers. bath towel
Having a top-notch bath towel can make all the difference in your daily showering experience. Your towel should feel soft against your skin and dry you off quickly while remaining durable over time — especially so it doesn't turn rough after repeated washing. It also helps to use one that can dry quickly to prevent mildew and is substantially sized so it keeps you nice and warm.
What's the best bath towel? Our pick for the best overall bath towel is the Pottery Barn Hydrocotton Quick Dry Towel. It outperformed all other towels in our test and stood out in particular for being soft and absorbent. It also looked great after laundering, even after we machine washed it 20 times.
The fiber scientists in the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab have evaluated more than 80 towel styles in recent years. We test them for qualities like absorbency, drying time, washability, fabric strength and more using in-Lab equipment. We then have dozens of consumer testers use them at home and share feedback on their experiences, including softness. All in all, we've reviewed over 10,000 data points before making our recommendations.
You can read about how we test and what to look for when you shop at the end of the article, but first, here's everything you need to know about our top-tested bath towels.
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Not only is this towel made of luxurious Turkish cotton that's certified organic by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), but it also earned the highest overall score in our tests and stood out for being super soft and ultra-absorbent. In fact, it earned perfect absorbency ratings in our evaluations, soaking up all fluid without any liquid running off. Our testers unanimously gave it high scores, referring to it as "comfy," "so fluffy" and the "ideal towel."
Beyond that, it held up well to our laundering tests — the fabric looked and felt great even after 20 wash cycles. Just note that although the name claims these towels are quick-dry, they actually took longer to fully dry than other bath towels in our test. That's to be expected, as plush and absorbent towels often hold onto moisture.
If you prefer to buy towels on Amazon, its own brand has an assortment of bath towels that have impressed our analysts with their performance both in our Lab and with at-home consumer testers, especially given the brand's low prices. In fact, this pair costs less than other individual towels and comes in a wide range of colors and sizes. We've found that similar towels from the brand have soaked up fluid in our absorbency tests, and users told us they felt both soft and absorbent in real use after their showers.
The most recent towel we tested from the brand is no longer available, but this one has a similar fabrication and comes in a variety of colors and sizes. Though some reviewers say it feels a bit thin — Amazon doesn't list the weight online — it's hard to beat this price for 100% cotton bath towels.
This quick-dry towel is a GH staffer favorite thanks to its unique construction: It has cotton on the outside for softness, but microfiber on the inside for enhanced performance. The result makes it an excellent balance of absorbent, quick-drying, strong and shrink-resistant. Testers also noted that they liked the texture, which looks different than typical cotton loops.
One thing to note is that the fabric surface showed fuzzy signs of wear more quickly than other towels in our laundering evaluations. Still, it was a top performer and the only towel to ace both absorbency and drying time tests. We're also fans of the brand's Hokime Ribbed Towels for those who prefer even more of a textured feel; they were another top performer in our tests.
READ OUR FULL REVIEW: The Everplush Diamond Jacquard is the Only Bath Towel You Need
Riley's towel uses a zero-twist combed cotton construction, meaning the fibers are longer and stronger so it's softer, more absorbent and more durable. At-home users unanimously gave it perfect scores for softness and raved about its luxurious feel. In fact, one tester said, "It was the softest towel I've ever used," while another told us, "I expected the softness to disappear with washing, but it stayed soft. And the fluffiness didn't decrease with washing either."
In addition to the rave reviews from consumer testers, our analysts were amazed by how soft it remained after repeated laundering cycles in our standardized tests, though it did have some shrinkage. It also earned perfect absorbency scores in the Lab and dried fairly quickly, which is impressive for a plush, 100% cotton towel.
This style is ideal for anyone who prefers the comfort of a soft, dense towel: Its cotton fabric has the heaviest weight of all our picks at a whopping 820 GSM. This helped it achieve excellent absorbency in Lab evaluations and superior softness ratings in our consumer tester reviews. One tester noted, "It is a very thick towel that absorbs the water off your body practically in one pass," while another proclaimed, "It's the best towel I've ever used."
Another highlight is that it didn't shed lint in the wash, which is a common concern with plush towels. It did have some shrinkage after laundering and it wasn't quick-drying, but both of these areas still scored average compared to other towels in our test.
This 100% cotton towel was by far the most absorbent in our tests, quickly soaking up all fluid without any runoff. Plus, our panel raved about the fluffiness and gave it the highest rating in a blind comparison. They specifically liked the heavy, blanket-like feel and described it as super plush.
On the flip side, these towels took a while to dry, which is not surprising with such high absorbency. It also shrunk a bit in our wash tests. Still, if you want to wrap yourself in a thick, cozy towel that dries you off quickly, this is the one for you.
This basic all-in-one set is a total steal for bath towels, hand towels and washcloths, plus you can buy it in 12- and 18-piece configurations. Despite the low cost, the cotton fabric was soft and had excellent absorbency in our evaluations. In fact, the set impressed us enough to earn the Good Housekeeping Seal.
Our textile pros also appreciated this towel's construction, especially with its hollow core design so it doesn't feel too heavy. It held up well in our wash tests; there was some shrinkage, but only minimal signs of wear and low lint after repeated laundering. Plus, the set comes in a variety of colors that proved to be fade-resistant.
If you're looking to add a pop of color to your bathroom, this 100% cotton towel is available in 25 shades with the option to personalize it at no added cost. It's also soft, dense and uses zero-twist construction, helping it to get consistently high ratings — and outperform most other towels — throughout both Lab and consumer tests.
At-home users said it felt fluffy and looked great after repeated use, plus they highlighted the pretty appearance. One even noted it was "a perfect size to wrap around my body." In our Textiles Lab, analysts found it to be highly absorbent during our evaluations. It had moderate drying time scores plus some shrinkage in the wash, but it had overall good durability ratings.
The waffle-weave construction on this 100% cotton towel is super light and dries quickly. The thinner design is also more compact if you need to pack a towel on the go. Plus, it has a pretty texture that looks more like a spa towel for a decorative touch in your bathroom.
Just note that it won't dry you off as well as plush towels with loops. In fact, this one had one of the lowest absorbency scores in our test. The trade-off is that it's not bulky like a traditional towel with loops. If you're looking for one that's plusher, the brand's Classic Towel was highly absorbent and an overall great pick.
Coyuchi proves you don't have to sacrifice performance to go green: It had a perfect absorbency score in our Lab tests and was highly rated among testers who unanimously said it felt both soft and absorbent. It also held up to laundering despite some shrinkage. Just note that like some other 100% cotton fabrications, it wasn't quick-drying in our evaluations.
While many towels claim to be made with organic cotton, this one's certified by GOTS so you know the entire manufacturing process follows strict standards. In fact, Coyuchi is one of the leading and most trusted organic cotton brands on the market.
Each bath towel is put through the wringer in both Lab tests and consumer evaluations. In recent years, we've tested more than 80 towels and reviewed over 10,000 data points from these tests. Here's how the bath towels are scored:
✔️ Absorbency: Using the apparatus pictured above, a towel sample is set up at a 60-degree angle and water is poured on from a standard distance. Any water that the towel doesn't absorb rolls off the fabric and into the bin below, where it then gets weighed. This test is performed multiple times on each towel, including after repeated wash cycles. A towel with perfect absorbency won't have any runoff.
✔️ Drying speed: A standard amount of water is applied to a towel swatch. Analysts then hang the swatch to dry and reweigh it every 30 minutes until it reaches its original weight, indicating that the towel has fully dried.
✔️ Washability: Each towel is washed and dried 20 times, with analysts measuring shrinkage and appearance throughout this process. They also measure weight loss from laundering to see how much each towel sheds lint.
✔️ Fabric strength: A specialized machine called the Instron pulls swatches of towel fabric apart and measures the force needed to break each one.
✔️ Consumer tests: Dozens of consumer testers use the towels and rate them on factors like softness, appearance, whether users were dried off quickly and more.
Towel shopping is largely based on your personal preference:
It’s not a rule of thumb, but towels labeled as “Turkish cotton” or “Made in Turkey” performed better in our tests than those claiming to be made of “Egyptian” cotton. In theory, they’re very similar: Both are long-staple fibers, helping to make the fabrics softer and more durable. However, Turkish cotton is more popular in bath towels and is known for drying faster than Egyptian cotton, which is more commonly seen in bed sheets. Plus, there have been instances of bedding fabrics mislabeled as Egyptian cotton, especially because it's difficult to verify this claim.
Wash them before use! Sometimes there are loose fibers leftover from the production process, but laundering the towels a few times should help get rid of them. Not to mention, washing them also makes the towels more absorbent because it gets rid of leftover finishes from production.
Lexie Sachs is the Executive Director of the Textiles, Paper & Apparel Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she has been researching, testing and writing about bath towels for nearly 10 years. Lexie has developed proprietary evaluations while also following standardized industry test methods to review dozens of styles both in the Textiles Lab and in the homes of consumer testers.
Lexie Sachs (she/her) is the executive director of the Textiles, Paper and Apparel Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she researches, tests and reports on fabric-based products ranging from sheets, mattresses and towels to bras, fitness apparel and other clothing. She also evaluates luggage, rain gear, disposable paper goods and baby products. Lexie has more than 15 years of experience in the textiles industry and a degree in fiber science from Cornell University. Prior to joining GH in 2013, she worked in merchandising and product development in the fashion and home industries.
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