Gianneli Colours Teal Abstract Bath Towel

Teal and orange brushwork printed across one face, with cotton terry on the other. The two sides are different fabrics doing different jobs, and that is not a compromise but the only way this towel can exist. Sublimation dye bonds to polyester and will not bond to cotton, so the printed face has to be polyester-rich, while the side that actually dries you has to be cotton.

Why A Printed Towel Has Two Faces

• Colour needs polyester. The printing process bonds dye into synthetic fibre. On pure cotton the same process produces a pale, washed-out image that fades within a few cycles.
• Drying needs cotton. Cotton absorbs many times its weight in water; polyester moves water rather than holding it, which is the opposite of what a bath towel is for.
• So the towel does both, one side each. Print on the front, plush terry on the back, and the blend across the whole piece is 52% cotton with 48% polyester.

The Measurements That Matter

30 by 60 inches, or 76 by 152 cm, at 10.6 oz per square yard, 360 gsm. Sixty inches of length is the figure to note: that is enough to wrap an adult fully rather than reaching only part of the way round, which is the difference between a bath towel and a large hand towel.

What To Expect On First Use

The printed face is smoother than the terry face and it is not the side to dry with. Use the terry side against skin, and treat the printed side as the face that shows on the rail. A new towel of any kind also absorbs better after its first wash, once the finishing applied at the mill has come out.

Colour That Survives A Towel's Life

Towels are washed hotter and more often than clothes, and that is exactly the treatment a surface print cannot survive. Here the dye is inside the fibre of the printed face, so hot washing takes nothing off it.

Before You Order

Is both sides printed? No. The design is on one face only and the reverse is plain cotton terry. That is a requirement of the printing method rather than a saving.

Is the printed side absorbent? Less so than the terry side, because it carries the polyester that holds the print. Dry with the terry face and the towel performs as a towel should.

Can it be tumble dried? Yes, on a normal towel cycle. Neither the cotton nor the print objects to heat, unlike the elastane in the clothing in this range.