Every day, more and more people are talking about Turkish cotton as the perfect choice for towels, but why? Most high quality towels are woven from cotton, or at the very least, a cotton blend. The type of fibers or combination of fibers has a direct impact on how your towel feels to the touch, how long it lasts and how it dries you off. To understand why Turkish cotton is the best choice for your towels and robes, let’s dig into the art and science of cotton production.
What is Cotton?
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants. The fiber is harvested and then spun into yarn or thread, which can be dyed and used to make a soft, breathable, and durable textile. Some countries are a natural for cotton as the crop requires humid temperatures, lots of rain and healthy soil to grow.
Turkey: The Ideal Climate for Cotton
Cotton is a plant that needs a lot of heat, plenty of water and sunshine to thrive. It prefers warm and humid climate. Cotton seeds will have a small germination rate, if the soil temperature is below 60°F. During the growth stage, the ideal air temperature is 70 to 100°F. That’s why Turkey offers a prime environment for cotton production, where production mainly occurs in the Aegean Region, Çukurova and south-eastern Anatolia.
Cotton is a crop that needs a lot of water, significantly more than most other plant fibers. Since there is a good amount of rain in Turkey during the growing season, the cotton can grow more readily without much need for artificial watering or fertilizers.
Turkey’s growing conditions create cotton bolls, resulting in beautiful, long fibers with fewer joints. Using longer fiber cotton in spinning yarn means fewer joins. Fewer joins results in stronger and smoother cotton threads. That means there’s less flyaway strands or piling in strands of Turkish cotton.
Pesticides
Because of the favorable growing conditions in Turkey, its cotton requires less use of fertilizers and pesticides. The plant grows very quickly and efficiently, which means less harsh chemicals on the fibers and in your textiles. You can sleep better knowing that your Turkish cotton products were grown with minimal negative impact on our environment.
Turkish Cotton vs Egyptian Cotton
Egyptian cotton is well-known for its softness and absorbency, due to its long fibers which results in a very dense thread. This makes Egyptian cotton a perfect choice for apparel and sheets. However, in towels too much absorbency means that a towel remains wet long after use, so Egyptian cotton is not a good choice for towels. While they may be soft and thick, towels woven from Egyptian cotton will remain damp for a long time. Also, towels that are too absorbent tend to become wet in humid climates all by themselves. This type of dense fiber tends to trap in moisture, making it the perfect breeding ground for mildew.
Turkish cotton, on the other hand, provides the perfect balance between absorbency and softness which makes it the best cotton to be used in towels. When used in towels, it provides maximum absorbency and efficient drying. So your towel can hang dry — often within an hour – and there is no moldy smell or unpleasant odor. And, it cuts down on frequent washing and drying.
We hope you see why we believe that Turkish cotton is the perfect choice for bath towels and robes!