Here’s one way to find the best bath towel: Buy a hand towel from every towelmaker you can think of and blind test them by feel. That’s what Chicago-based interior designer Alessandra Branca did years ago to find her favorite, the Bello by Sferra. “I think that’s something everyone should do,” she says — because bath towels are a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, bath towels’ specific purpose is to dry you off. “It needs to be absorbent,” Branca says. “Sometimes the softest and prettiest towels actually don’t do that job.”
Jane Feller, senior buyer at online retailer Bellacor, explains that what consumers should look for is the grams per square meter, or GSM. “The higher the number, the heavier and denser the towel will feel,” she says. When you find what you like, get four washcloths for every two hand towels for every single bath towel.
Whether you buy for you, a newly married couple or new homeowners, it’s true what Branca says: “There’s no one that wouldn’t want a wonderful new set of towels.”
Erin Boyle, author of the book “Simple Matters,” lives in a 500-square-foot apartment with her husband and two kids, so she lives only with the material possessions she treasures. Thankfully, she was given a set of Linen Chambray Towels for her wedding five years ago that she and her husband still love, from Massachusetts shop Fog Linen ($52, shop-foglinen.com). “They’re very absorbent, and they hold up super well,” she says, noting that they dry well, “which is key for small city bathrooms without ventilation.”