What Amazon Reviewers Say: “These are exactly what we were looking for. A soft towel that absorbs everything. And doesn’t just glide off your body doing nothing like most towels. And so far they are not all worn out from the dryer and usage. We love them.”
The Best Patterned Bath Towels: Marimekko Terry Cotton Bath Towels
Helsinki-based design studio Marimekko has been making fabrics with its distinctive patterns and prints since 1951. The bath towels can be mixed and matched and there are even more to choose from at Marimekko’s storefront on Amazon, all dreamed up by the company’s top textile designer. The towels themselves are made from a soft terry cotton, and one of our editors (who uses them as hand towels) vouches for their fluff and that they have a gentle handfeel and easily brighten up a humdrum bathroom with their cheerful designs.
What Amazon Reviewers Say: “I bought this for my new black and white bathroom and was pleasantly surprised when I washed it because it got softer. It’s a good quality towel and I’ll be ordering a few more.”
More Amazon Towels We Love
Amazon Basics 6 Piece Fade Resistant Hand Towel
These best-selling hand towels from none other than the e-tail giant’s in-house brand are surprisingly solid. Made from 100% cotton, they have a whopping 4.5-star average rating from almost 70,000 reviewers on the site and come in a variety of colorways to match any and every bathroom aesthetic. Plus, they’re extremely affordable, which makes them a good choice for a first apartment or to use as backup towels when your fancy ones are in the wash.
KAF Home Soho Kitchen Dish Towel Set of 10
Sure, you could snag microfiber dish towels with all the bells and whistles, but let’s be honest: These things are going to be subject to spills, grease, hot pans, and all sorts of other kitchen-related grime. That’s why you should buy this cheap (yet highly functional) 10-piece towel set and save yourself the heartache of watching your luxe, Egyptian cotton, monogrammed kitchen towels (is that a thing?) gather green oil splatter as they hang from your oven handle.
How We Chose These Bath Towels
Many of these towels, like the Brooklinen Super-Plush, Onsen Waffle-Weave, or Cozy Earth towels, were personally tested by GQ shopping editors for our guide to the best bath towels. We’ve also tested additional towels for past iterations of the GQ Home Awards. We pulled our favorite options from these guides available with two-day Prime shipping. And to round out our selects, we sifted through a high-pile heap of bathroom products on Amazon with which to fill your linen closet. While we haven’t tested all of these towels, we’re confident in our entire lineup of options. To make sure we picked out the top towels, we carefully checked customer reviews and relied on the rubric outlined above.
What Distinguishes a Meh Bath Towel from a Great One?
To find the fluffiest, plushest, long-lasting towels, we used a three-part rubric. You’ll notice that price is not a factor in this calculus. We don’t want GQ shoppers to waste their money, but we do believe high-quality towels are worth the price (within reason). Amazon has an endless scroll of cheap towels, many of which have somehow have tens of thousands of reviews. Skip past these products unless you want the cheap white towels you’d find in a motel.
Textile companies use the GSM (grams per square meter) metric to measure a fabric’s thickness. It’s similar to thread count, though we think with less B.S. baked in. Bath towels with a higher GSM rating will be thicker and potentially fluffier. They’re also more absorbent, so your towel won’t be soaked through before you even get to your legs.
If you prefer a lower drying time over the most absorbent bath towel, you’ll end up with a thinner towel. There’s reasons to go that route: Fast-drying towels won’t get as funky, as soon, in a poorly ventilated bathroom. Amazon’s selection of towels doesn’t include many of our favorite towels in this category, but we found a few solid ribbed and waffle-weave towels worth considering.
Materials and Certifications
If you care about sustainability (we all do), then you’ll appreciate how many textile brands are now using organic cotton. Not only that, but many towels and similar home goods can carry a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) rating (organic fabrics were used) and/or OEKO-TEX certification (no harmful synthetic materials were used). We’re also fond of Egyptian and Turkish cotton towels, which are justifiably known for being ultra soft.
Bath Towel FAQs
What fabrics should I look for in bath towels?
Long-staple cotton fibers will typically offer the best feel and the most durability over time. Synthetic materials tend to be loaded with fabric softeners that will help them feel nice when new but won’t stand up to the daily-use test. Quality cotton towels will also become softer and more plush over time.
How can I tell if a towel will be absorbent?
The GSM shows the towel’s weight and density in a range that typically varies between 300 and 900. Lower weights typically mean that the towel is less absorbent. The higher the weight, the more absorbent. If you opt for a towel that is on the lighter side, it will dry out faster.
Should I look for a certain color or pattern?
While white towels are an easy, classic route that will always look polished, it’s definitely okay to branch out into the world of pattern and color. Brands like Tekla and Dusen Dusen have created some fun patterned options. Plenty of retailers have also started offering varying textures that would allow you to mix up the look without diverting from a classic white palette if you’re worried about being able to keep them bleached and bright.
About the Authors
Timothy Beck Werth is a seasoned editor, journalist, and product reviewer with 15 years of experience under his belt. For GQ Recommends, he covers tech, smart home gadgets, home goods, and grooming. Tim has reviewed countless products for GQ and other publishers, and he currently has an army of robot vacuums taking over his living room. He personally swears by Brooklinen’s Super Plush towels, which he says are the softest and most absorbent towels he’s ever encountered.
Brittany Loggins is a journalist who loves to learn about what’s new in tech, design, and fashion. She contributes to GQ, Architectural Digest, the New York Times, and lots of others.
