The Evolution of Towels

Mr. Abe, what kind of activities do you do as a "Towel Sommelier"?

Towel Sommelier is a qualification from Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, which is known as a major towel production area. In Imabari, there are manufacturers like our weaving mills, businesses specializing in dyeing, and wholesale companies. While sales are basically handled by retail stores, the qualification was established so that we can explain things using the same terminology when customers ask us about towels.

Izumisano City in Osaka Prefecture and Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture are said to be the two major production areas for towels. Both use cotton yarn as raw material, but the manufacturing methods are different. In short, Osaka is "post-bleaching" (ato-zarashi) and Imabari is "pre-bleaching" (saki-zarashi).

"Bleaching" (sarashi) is the process of removing impurities from the yarn and whitening it. In Osaka, it is called post-bleaching because the raw yarn is woven on a loom before being bleached. Imabari is called pre-bleaching because the yarn is bleached and dyed before being woven.

I have always thought that the differences between production areas are similar to alcohol. Just as sake and wine are linked to specific regions and breweries, the finish of a towel differs depending on the production area. Customers sense that and make their choices.

What's strange about towel customer service is that everyone chooses towels with dry hands. In reality, they are used to wipe wet hands, and they are washed after use. From that perspective, our store allows customers to try out products after they have been washed.

When they do, they often find that what they thought was their preference is different from what actually feels right. Some people evaluate the tactile sensation in conjunction with their own personal stories, and I really feel that it's not just "fluffy" that is universally preferred.

Even when we say "a good towel," preferences vary completely from person to person. Some people like fluffy ones, while others like a firm texture.

Rather than making products tied to a specific production area, we are a company that has focused on what kind of towel we want to create, so we have made high absorbency a major prerequisite. As Mr. Abe says, customer preferences are truly diverse. It's difficult to define what the "standard" is, and I wonder if it's even something that should be defined.

Since Japanese people have so many different tastes, it's hard to find a product that hits the mark perfectly.

But I wonder if everyone is really that interested in towels. Of course, we use towels every morning, but I've long wondered if people ever have special feelings toward them.

What do you mean?

Towels are a staple gift item, right? This is thanks to the efforts of wholesalers and retailers, but as a result, the mindset that "towels are something you receive" became very strong. A situation was created where homes were overflowing with more towels than could be used, even without going out of one's way to buy them.

After the bubble burst, the culture of giving towels as gifts declined, and finally, a culture of choosing towels for oneself was born. At that time, there was a strong focus on saving money, so cheap items were in demand. From now on, I hope we enter an era where people choose truly good towels.

I heard that more people became interested in towels due to at-home consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some people say that using a good towel at the end of the day is a reward. The increased momentum to re-evaluate items in the home was one of the good things for the towel industry.

Certainly, at-home consumption during the pandemic had tremendous momentum. Everyone's interest shifted toward how to enrich their lives inside the home. Because people spent more time at home, they shifted toward using things that felt satisfying and comfortable.

With the increased momentum to re-evaluate lifestyles, I think customers have also started to think about the meaning of using a product. When we share the brand story and the background of the manufacturing, they are convinced and make a purchase. Because of that, needs like "I want a towel with this kind of texture" seem to have increased. What do you think, Mr. Konno?

People who know what they want have very clear requests. However, on the other hand, there are still those who don't have such demands. While awareness of daily necessities certainly changed during the pandemic, regarding towels, there might have also been a movement to "throw them away because they might have viruses on them" from a hygienic perspective.

Furthermore, while lifestyles have changed significantly in modern times, nuclear families have increased, and there is almost no visiting between homes anymore. As a result, there are fewer opportunities to have guests over, and I suspect there are more cases where people no longer place high-quality towels in the restroom.

That's true.

Some households don't mind if the towels at home are ones they received at a hot spring inn. Since appearances matter, they think about having good items for things they take outside, so even if they spend money, it tends to be on face towels or handkerchiefs they carry with them.

Previously, when we developed a towel muffler that uses heat of vaporization to lower body temperature as a summer product for outdoor use, the idea of a "muffler in summer" was unexpected and was picked up by the media, becoming very popular. The fact that you could just throw it in the washing machine even if you sweated was also a plus, and production grew much more than expected.

Polarization might also be progressing. Recently, among young women, some use towels to wipe their faces, while others use disposable facial towels. The disposable facial towel group believes that bacteria on towels is bad for skincare, while the towel group wants to wipe with a fluffy texture.

It also shows in how people use their time; some choose things that are easy to wash to save time, while others use good towels because they want to make that same hour a rich experience.

I see.

To meet those needs, we created a "small bath towel" that is between a face towel and a bath towel. It's a size that isn't bulky in the washing machine and can be dried on a hanger.

What is the approximate size?

It's shorter than a bath towel and about 50 centimeters wide. With that kind of compactness, I thought it could meet the needs of single-person households who want to make laundry easier.

Changes in lifestyle are appearing here as well. The standard bath towel width for Japanese people is about 60 centimeters, but around 1990, at the end of the bubble economy, it was 70 centimeters. It was an era where the bigger it was, the more luxurious and happy it felt.

Further back when large families were common, dressing rooms were cramped, so it was normal to spend time wrapped in a large bath towel inside the house after a bath. That's probably not the case now. Rather, recently, perhaps reflecting the value that a towel just needs to be able to wipe, thin and small items are becoming preferred.

Thin and small bath towels require fewer raw materials, so they are likely good from an SDGs perspective too. They have the advantage of being washable with a small amount of water and detergent and drying quickly. Towels from Izumisano City are called "Senshu Towels," and since we have long been good at making thin towels, this is a very welcome trend.

Being easy to dry is important.

Recently, more households aren't hanging laundry outside, right?

That's right.

There is high demand for things that dry quickly when hung indoors. Konno Towel also makes thin bath towels, and they have a strong following in online sales.

How is the durability of the fabric?

Thicker ones are generally more durable, but either way, the yarn gets damaged by washing, so I don't think there's a very big difference.

Generally, it's said that the fluffier the towel, the lower the durability. The softer it is, the more vulnerable it is to damage, and I think many manufacturers focus on balancing these two factors.

Mr. Abe, you also share information on how to care for towels. It's often said that if the pile on the surface dries while flattened, the finish becomes stiff and scratchy.

From an SDGs perspective, I believe that having the brand-new texture last as long as possible has the lowest environmental impact. Poor absorbency, a hard touch, darkening, or odors are caused by excessive detergent or "insufficient rinsing," and such conditions usually occur because too much detergent or fabric softener is added.

I understand. Exactly!

To communicate proper care, Ikeuchi Organic doesn't consider the relationship over once the product reaches the customer's hands; rather, we see that as the start of the relationship. Based on this idea, we also started a maintenance service in 2022.

When the texture deteriorates, it needs to be reset once, but that method isn't very well known. If they are just kept in use as they are, it leads to complaints that they don't last at all, but if handled properly, towels last a long time.

I agree.

Since pile fabric (the fabric unique to towels) consists of a combination of cotton yarn and weaving methods, there shouldn't really be a huge difference. While production areas and materials are important, it's said that differences in design are what determine durability.

Commercials for detergents and washing machines often tout "time-saving" and "water-saving," right? Washing towels requires a certain amount of water, and you probably need about three rinses. "Zero rinses" or "washable with a small amount of water" is a bit hard to imagine for towels and underwear. But if that becomes the standard, tiny impurities that aren't visible to the eye remain. If you can remove those, the towel returns to its original state and can be used for a long time.

In fabric softener commercials, towels are used to express the effect. That combination has the potential to be misleading. The reason "the texture doesn't last" is actually often because too much fabric softener is being used.

I agree with that. For clothing like outerwear, it might prevent losing shape and shorten drying time, but if fabric softener is used on products where absorbency is the lifeblood, like underwear and towels, the functionality is compromised.

The idea that you shouldn't use too much detergent applies to all clothing, not just towels. The amount indicated by detergent manufacturers is usually the maximum amount, but everyone tends to put in extra detergent thinking it will get cleaner. Since people used to wash with just water, detergent shouldn't technically be necessary if it's not dirty.

Using surfactants like fabric softener does indeed make the yarn fluffy. However, since fabric softener has properties similar to oil, it impairs absorbency, loosens the entanglement between fibers, and causes shedding (lint). That's the mechanism by which the yarn thins out and the towel becomes stiff.

The preference for fluffy towels is really deep-rooted. Absorbency has become a given performance for towels, and softness is further demanded. In Japan, fluffiness has long been placed at the top of the value hierarchy.

However, the values regarding towels are very different between the West and Japan; over there, processing that prevents the yarn from breaking is mainstream. Thick towels are preferred, and the more yarn there is, the better it is considered. It's a contrast to Japan, where delicate manufacturing is mainstream.

True, high-twist yarn (kyonenshi), which is popular in the West, isn't used much in Japan. In Japan, which has soft water, "low-twist" (amayori) yarn with a loose twist is common. We also receive feedback that when washed in regions with hard water like Europe, the texture of low-twist yarn changes.

That's right. If the water is hard, towels quickly become frizzy in high-temperature dryers, so it's a harsh environment for Japanese towels. It could be said that the nature of the water plays a big role in being able to use delicate towels for a long time in Japan.

In Japan, we are careful about washing even soft towels, but in the West, there is a culture of washing thoroughly.

About 15 or 16 years ago, I exhibited at a gift show in New York. The person in charge from JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) told me it would be difficult to even show soft gauze towels or handkerchiefs, but when I took them, it seemed that soft towels were rare, and they were quite well-received.

That's because the US doesn't have a culture of using handkerchiefs.

It's a disposable culture of wiping hands with paper even in restrooms. Recently, towel oshibori (wet towels) are disappearing from Japanese restaurants as well. It's a shame to see these items vanish from the market, but I think it's a manifestation of the trend toward seeing disposables as more hygienic.

Conversely, recently, quite a few foreign tourists buy handkerchiefs as souvenirs to take home.

I wonder if the variety of designs is also appealing. I really want them to notice the convenience of handkerchiefs too.

When we exhibit at US gift shows, we also hear evaluations that they are good for the environment. Since many of our products have cute designs, they seem to be moving mainly as baby products in the US.

In Japan, where humidity is high, towel handkerchiefs are a summer necessity. This is especially true in urban areas where there is a lot of walking. On the other hand, in car-centric societies like regional cities, they aren't as highly valued, and I think the US is similar in that regard.

And people in the US don't put many things in their pockets.

Compared to Japan, where it feels like a steam bath when the outside temperature hits 34 or 35 degrees Celsius, the US is dry with 30 to 40% humidity even when the temperature is high. I think the difference in climate is significant.

While towels are often associated with summer use, our sales actually peak in December.

It's December for us as well.

It's usually the end of the year. I suspect many households replace them during their annual year-end cleaning.

It used to be said that towels sell best in the summer, but they move more at the end of the year now. Other than the year-end, March is busy when people start their new lives.

Another reason for the December peak might be the timing of the deadline for hometown tax deduction applications. In fact, Izumisano City in Osaka offers its local specialty, Senshu towels, as a return gift, and they are a highly popular item in terms of tax revenue.

Izumisano City is far and away the leader. Inspired by this, Imabari City also decided to focus on towels as return gifts starting the year before last. Though we haven't quite caught up to Senshu towels yet.

By the way, Japan has a unique culture of giving towels as gifts, doesn't it?

Since American homes have many rooms, it's probably normal to buy towels in bulk. I think the fact that Japanese households use smaller towels for daily use is why larger towels become gifts.

People almost never buy towels in bulk in Japan. Even if they had many, they probably wouldn't have a place to put them.

The way people over there shop is truly amazing. Everyone buys five or more of the same item. It really makes you feel the difference in housing situations.

In the West, towels are an element of interior design. There is a strong commitment to coordinating colors. Since private spaces are secret places for the family, there is actually a tendency to dislike receiving them as gifts.

I can well understand the feeling of wanting to avoid someone else's selection intruding when you want to design your interior to your own taste.

It's tough to be given something that isn't to your taste.

Japan's gift-giving culture probably stems from the fact that towels were once luxury items. I suspect that when towels were not yet familiar to general households, the culture of giving them as rare items spread.

Certainly, in the history of textiles, towels are very recent. In Imabari, the history of towels is in its 131st year this year.

I think the history of towels in Japan can be traced back about 140 years. Even when I was a child, bath towels hadn't yet become widespread in homes. Of course, since our family ran a towel shop, we had unlimited use of them (laughs).

As the gift-giving culture spread, towel departments in department stores expanded, but those are gradually shrinking now. While gift demand is decreasing, individual shops are now handling them separately. I think more people are choosing them for themselves.

Towels have a nature that blends well with various products. They are in the bath area, of course, but they are also in clothing departments, and it doesn't feel out of place to see them sold at family restaurants for wiping children's hands. Towels are entering all sorts of situations.

On the other hand, the culture of giving them for family celebrations or as return gifts still remains.

I think gift-giving has now become a form of self-expression for the giver. For example, wanting someone to know about a towel because they liked it. I believe there are people like this among those who choose them for family celebrations.

What is the towel you recommend the most? For me, it inevitably ends up being my own company's product (laughs).

Mine is also my own company's product. The "Organic 120" series from IKEUCHI ORGANIC is "the most average of average" with no impact when you first touch it, but its characteristic is that the initial texture lasts a long time. If it were a rice ball, it would be the most standard one, like a plain salt rice ball.

Centering on this, we created our own matrix to compare variations with different softness, texture, and water absorption. With softness and hardness on the horizontal axis and ease of drying on the vertical axis, the differences are clear at a glance. The reason we made such a thing was to let customers know which of these characteristics are in a trade-off relationship.

So the Organic 120 is the towel that serves as the starting point.

That's right.

My recommendation is a bath towel called "Shiawase Towel" (Happiness Towel) woven with extremely fine 100-count yarn. Yarn is considered finer as the count increases; a normal towel is said to be 20-count, but we achieved a fineness about one-fifth of that.

100-count is too fine. That must be an incredible towel.

By weaving with fine yarn, we tried to satisfy delicacy, softness, and durability all at once. Fluffiness and durability are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but while balancing these, we focused development on providing an emotional experience that goes beyond the function of a towel. After much trial and error, the price became 14,000 yen excluding tax, but it is our best seller.

Did you use 100-count yarn for the pile? It's not a single yarn, is it?

No, it's a 100-count single yarn.

That must be difficult to weave. Manufacturers would hate it (laughs).

We manufacture them at a factory in Thailand, but when I first brought this up, they were reluctant, saying it couldn't be done because the yarn breaks easily and efficiency is poor. We researched and researched how to weave without breaking, and finally managed to realize a towel like no other.

That's a bit hard to believe...

Actually, we also have products made with even finer 140-count yarn.

What?

We sell it under the name "Shiho" (Supreme Treasure). Since it's even more expensive than the "Shiawase Towel," it doesn't sell frequently, but I think this is the best among our towels.

140-count is extraordinary. Can you even weave with yarn that fine?

We slow down the machines and weave slowly. Because the yarn breaks easily and the loom rotation is slow, productivity drops, so the factory really hated it.

I bet (laughs). How about you, Mr. Konno?

At Konno Towel, we have made a truly wide variety of products, but the best ones are towels for daily use created with a balance of size and weight in mind. As a manufacturer, I also have a desire to weave using good cotton yarn, so I've gone to the US West Coast to see the cotton and made products with a focus on the yarn twist, but that inevitably costs more.

Yarn is essentially a collection of fibers, so if you use long fibers, you can make the twist loose. If you make the twist loose with short fibers, "shedding" occurs and the yarn thins out. That's why long fibers are necessary.

The thickness of the fiber also varies depending on the cotton. If you use fine, long fibers, you get fine yarn, but then it loses elasticity. Conversely, I've also used thick, long fibers—which are considered failures as fibers—to create products with elasticity. After trying various variations like this on our own looms, the number of items we've made has exceeded 1,000.

That many!?

I have an attachment to each of them, but my favorite is a product called "Bijin Komachi" (Beautiful Skin Lady), which isn't that soft, uses 40-count class yarn, and is finished firmly with high density. When you wipe your face with it, because the yarn is fine, you can feel it firmly absorbing the sebum from your face. I use it at home too.

Mr. Uchino, do you go to the production areas to see the materials?

I haven't been able to go. I'd like to feel the climate firsthand, though.

For example, in restaurants, there are types that visit producers for each menu item they want to create and source individually, and types that partner with a specific producer and stay together through thick and thin. IKEUCHI ORGANIC is the latter, so our yarn variations are very narrow. There's no way to source 140-count yarn; the finest we can get is 60-count.

Furthermore, when you focus on organic and manufacture together with producers, the character of the yarn changes every year. Even so, if we continue to buy the same amount every year, the business can continue. That is the kind of towel-making we do.

I see.

If the relationship is sustainable, traceability is also possible. Of course, I'm interested in 140-count yarn, but it's difficult for us to pursue that, so we focus on what we can do precisely because we care about the environment.

If you saw 140-count yarn, you'd lose the urge to weave it (laughs).

I suppose so (laughs). Since even 60-count isn't easy with organic cotton yarn.

Where is the spinning (the process of turning cotton into yarn) done?

In Tanzania. To handle organic products, the spinning process must also be certified, so we partner with factories that have dedicated organic production lines.

That's GOTS certification (Global Organic Textile Standard).

Yes. The system's restrictions are strict, but because we are directly connected with the producers and factory people, there is a sense of reality, and we can make things with a warm feeling.

By the way, from the perspective of traceability and certification, towels involve various processes, so if you try to get certification, all the related companies must be involved. Furthermore, because the type of yarn we use is basically limited to one due to certification requirements, unlike large manufacturers, there are some short-delivery or large-lot orders we cannot handle. It's not a matter of which is better, but I think these differences are significant.

Even if you ask the farm to change the cotton variety, it's difficult. That's the kind of manufacturing it is.

Exactly. We basically leave the cotton cultivation to them, and we just pray that there's no flood damage this year and that we can harvest properly (laughs).

Is the farm in Tanzania too?

Yes. It used to be Indian cotton, but there were situations where "conventional farming" using fertilizers and pesticides was adjacent to organic, and we could no longer get organic certification due to contamination issues. Syria was also a producer of high-quality cotton, but with the civil war, that became impossible, and production areas are gradually becoming limited.

As the culture of gift-giving has settled down and we hear voices saying that every household now has a surplus of towels, our shop has set up towel collection boxes and started a service to accept unwanted towels.

Will the collected towels be reused?

We reuse and recycle them. Reused items are used for donations to organizations conducting support activities and children's cafeterias, and are also utilized in disaster recovery support activities.

Recycling involves returning them to yarn once and remaking them as towels again.

Is the process of returning them to yarn done overseas?

That's right. Even including transportation costs, it can be done more cheaply than doing it domestically. When making them into towels again, we weave them with new yarn to add value.

It's a matter of what customers look for in such products, isn't it?

Exactly.

We are also often asked by customers when we handle organic materials. They ask, "Organic is expensive, but what's good about it?" Since organic is an environmental value, it is a quite difficult question to answer how much of an advantage it has compared to ordinary cotton.

Softness and texture are matters of yarn thickness and the number of twists, so they have nothing to do with being organic. We had no choice but to say so. However, while ten years ago people said, "I can't pay for something where I can't feel the benefits," such reactions have become very rare now.

I see!

Customer awareness is definitely changing. While they used to judge based on the presence or absence of benefits, now there are customers who even think about what will happen if they continue to use this (conventional products).

I think that is truly amazing.

Until now, it was often said, "It's safe because it uses organic cotton." That sense of safety was a misunderstanding caused by confusing organic food with organic cotton products. I think the fact that it has come to be correctly understood is the result of the sincere explanations provided by everyone at IKEUCHI ORGANIC.

Thank you. Certainly, in the early days of organic, illusions such as safety and durability were deep-rooted, and I think there were circumstances where marketing wouldn't work unless you focused on those. However, that would hide the "harmful effects" part, just like fabric softeners make things fluffy but have downsides. I felt we had to keep explaining that part steadily.

The perception of safety and security is completely different between food and cotton. I think it's really difficult to get people to understand that.

Since pesticides used in cotton cultivation do not enter the body, there is no immediate health hazard to the user. However, because of that confusion, it was said that non-organic cotton is dangerous. In the early days, many people confused the two.

It's amazing that people with incorrect perceptions about organic have stopped coming to Mr. Abe's place. On the other hand, there are people who come to us saying, "I want you to make it with organic cotton," and when I ask, "Why organic?" they say, "Because it's good, right?" The reality may be that there are still many people whose understanding hasn't caught up.

In terms of quality, organic is by no means the better one, is it?

Things grown while being managed with pesticides should have better quality. Organic cotton doesn't use pesticides, so there are limits to its quality. If you think about the producers, it's certainly good for them because the damage from pesticides is eliminated, but for the users, there isn't a big difference.

That's right.

Conversely, even when pesticides are used, there are products that are properly post-processed. They are not dangerous because they are thoroughly washed off during processing.

On the other hand, even if cultivated without pesticides, it's a problem if chemical agents that are not good for the human body are used in post-processing. Rather than which is safer, what matters is whether it is properly managed.

That said, even if you try to increase the production of organic, it's quite difficult because if you don't use pesticides, there's a lot of pest damage. In Europe, understanding of organic producers is advancing, but a situation is emerging where there's a scramble for the small amount of cotton, and only the costs keep rising. It would be good if more people in Japan chose organic cotton with the producers in mind, but the mainstream will likely still be people who say ordinary cotton is fine if the cost goes up.

We also receive offers from companies wanting to make towels with organic cotton, but we explain things thoroughly at the beginning to avoid any discrepancy in perception. When we ask if they will still proceed with organic, there are indeed few cases where it is realized. I feel that we are doing "manufacturing on the edge."

Corporate activities have budgets, after all.

Yes. When comparing ordinary towels and organic towels, choosing "organic, which is inferior in feel but higher in price" becomes a form of patience consumption. If you think of it as patience, it will end as a passing phase, so we need to change our way of thinking to how we can use things comfortably and for a long time within limited means.

I see.

It's fine as long as you can think that you're cool for being patient. The day will surely come when you can't think that way anymore. For that time, if you can't truly think this is good, you can't deceive yourself.

Even for products with high environmental value, I think they probably won't be used forever unless we appeal to sensory parts that cannot be quantified, such as a good touch or a sense of security.

It's about what you place importance on. Companies that want to promote environmental consideration should appeal to that first rather than the feel, and if they want to reach people who want fluffy towels, they can say that as a result of pursuing this softness, the yarn tends to become weaker but the feel is wonderful. There is no product that satisfies all needs.

Exactly.

So, I hope that if there are ten people, all ten will make an effort to find their favorite towel. If you have a towel you like, life becomes richer and more fun. As a producer, nothing makes me happier than if people feel this towel is comfortable when they wake up and wash their face every morning, and think they'll do their best today too.

The joy of using a comfortable towel is irreplaceable, isn't it?

I think it's truly significant.

I want those who haven't encountered one yet to imagine it. You reach for the towel shelf while washing your face in the morning. You must have felt "this is the one" by the touch. Continuing to use that "one" forever is a truly wonderful thing.

In the end, what you keep using repeatedly is your favorite thing.

Precisely. We are just helping them find it; choosing what is "the one" is ultimately up to the customers themselves.