Last year I reported on the joys of 100-percent bamboo sheets and met with curiosity and interest. Here a year (and now ten years) later I’m still loving them. My bamboo sheets are all I’ve used during the past year to give them a hard test, and they still look great.
At the same time I bought bamboo sheets I bought natural-fiber and -color (no dyes) towels. What is natural fiber? Fabric made of plant cellulose instead of synthetic fibers.
I bought all cotton, cotton/silk/modal (beech bark fiber), and bamboo towel sets. My intention with this purchase was to find out how natural-fiber towels feel and hold up with use. This article is intended to share my findings with you so you can make environmentally friendly decisions for your inn and home.
Here’s a summary of the towels for my research:
- Ribbed Cotton — InnStyle
- Micro-cotton — InnStyle
- Embrace, cotton/silk/modal, by Christie — Innstyle
- Bamboo, by IKT — Viva Terra
All of the towels have held up well — no hems or edges have come apart nor are there any snags — and they launder well. I love the feel of the bamboo towel but it’s not rigged enough to buff my body dry; and given these are the most expensive of all the towels, that’s a disappointment. I use StainSolver as my oxygen bleach on all of these towels with good results.
Other reactions and observations relate to marketing issues. The bath sheet of the Ribbed Cotton is hardly a large bath towel, at least they don’t call it a bath sheet any more. It remains a mystery as to whether the cotton in any of the cotton and cotton-blend towels is organic, so I’ll presume it’s not. InnStyle didn’t have any of organic cotton towels a year ago; they do now. I bought from them because they support the B&B industry, and I want to support that loyalty.
The cotton, silk and modal towel set, Embrace, from Innstyle, is my favorite of the towels I bought. It’s firm enough to dry me yet soft enough to make me feel pampered. It’s unclear as to whether the fibers are organic or not, but at least they aren’t synthetic. I did recently find a 100-percent modal towel, though they are really pricey and not available online or in a store near me. All-silk towels are also expensive, so for now buying the combination-fiber towels is the way to go.
If you are looking to buy sustainable products for your bed and breakfast, consider natural fiber fabrics. Cotton is a good fiber to work with, but so are the other fibers. If you are looking to buy sustainable products for your bed and breakfast, consider natural fiber fabrics. Cotton is a good fiber to work with, but so are the other fibers. Explore the possibilities and discover which plant fiber fabrics you like.
Bamboo towels are softer and more absorbent than cotton.Bamboo towels can easily absorb a lot of water, which means you dry off quickly. It is also incredibly soft and luxurious. Bamboo towels are naturally antibacterial, which makes it a good choice for the bathroom. They are also machine washable and easy to care for. Bamboo towel is odor-free and highly breathable.Those are few of the many reasons why bamboo towels are perfect for bath towels.
Ammantex
Cotton is a good fiber to work with, but so are the other fibers.
Cotton can be a good fiber to work with; at least it’s a natural fiber, not petroleum based. But cotton requires lots of water to grow, which isn’t always an environmentally sound approach. And much of the world’s cotton requires pesticides to grow, and that requires petroleum, making it of questionable value, in my opinion.
I love natural fibers for sheets, towels, robes and clothes. Give ’em a try to see what you think.