Are Velour towels any good?

17 Jun.,2024

 

Choosing the Perfect Beach Towels - Harris Levy

by 4 s

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When it comes to beach towels, we all strive to have that big and comfortable towel but usually end up with one that is not as absorbent as we hoped it would be. There are many things that could affect our shopping decisions. Some just do not invest in these towels at all, becoming too afraid to take them out for a spin or too scared to get them all dirty. Most do not think that towels for the beach should have the same consideration that goes with the regular home use towels. However, it is undeniable that a high quality beach towel is your best companion during those long summer vacations down the coast or even poolside parties.

Comfort and Absorbent Quality

For most, the first impulse would be to buy that cute and colorful beach towel on sale at the nearest discount shop or bed and bath department section. However, we should really give a little more thought on the absorbency of the towel, specifically on the materials or fabric that make up the beach towel. When it comes to materials, Thick Terry is known to be the most absorbent for towels. This material is thick, soaks up moisture quite quickly, provides warmth and provides comfort especially when lying on the beach sands. Cotton is also a fabric of choice when looking for absorbency in towels with Egyptian and Turkish varieties ranking high on the most absorbent cotton types.

Another popular beach towel variant comes in the form of Velour. Velour is made up of 100% cotton and has a fairly tight weave. Velour towels are quite soft and provide considerable comfort when lying on the beach or at the poolside. While they possess a rather luxurious look and feel, Velour variants tend to be less absorbent than other types. Anyone looking to lounge by the lake or poolside will benefit best from this type of beach towel.

Size

The next consideration to make when looking for beach towels is size. You will find that almost all towels in the market made specifically for outdoor use are much larger than their home and bath counterparts. Since these outdoor towels are built for people to lie on, they should very well have bigger measurements. While industry standards stick the typical size to 60 by30 inches, most find that towels measuring around 70 to 80 inches in length are more adequate in providing coverage for lying on the scorching sand as well as pool or beach chair.

Colors and Design

You can choose from a variety of colors, graphics and patterns when it comes to the design. Most will go for dark colors simply because light colored fabrics stain easily. This is a practical consideration since you will be taking the towel outdoors.  A dark blue or dark green towel will not stain as easily as a vibrant yellow beach towel. There are plain colored towels for beach use. However, themed designs with intricate artwork and graphics are some of the most common choices in beach towel design these days. A beach towel can in fact be a way for expressing your very own individuality. Choosing the perfect beach towels to have during the summer vacation means having to look beyond design and going right down to the appropriate size and most absorbent and comfortable fabric.

Velour Beach Towels...what's Velour?

So you've probably read or seen on our homepage that we don't actually produce towels with the common velour side. 

Think that's kinda weird? Considering that it&#;s the norm for most towel manufacturers, brands and stores? 

In this post, we&#;re going to rip through the reasons why we don&#;t make velour side's and also explain a little bit more about the process involved in creating velour textiles.


What is Velour?


You may have heard the term &#;velour&#; before when looking at clothes or fabrics. In fact, you may have even mistaken it for a fibre, but velour is actually a process and not specific to a material. Some parts of the world even refer to velour fabrics as &#;sheared&#; fabrics due to the way it&#;s created.

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The term velour is given to a soft and plush textile that can be compared to velvet. In fact, the French word for velvet is actually velour, so you can imagine that this can complicate things. You can often tell when something is velour due to the incredibly soft finish. The process was very popular throughout the 70s and 80s but has seen a recent surge in modern-day textile production. Velour finishes are typically made from cotton or polyester fabrics and they can be used in a wide variety of different applications, but in this post, we&#;re going to talk about their use in towels and why we choose NOT to finish one side of our towels with the velour process.


How is Velour Made?


When conventional towels are created the fabric is passed through machines that loom very small loops on the surface. The name given to this type of fabric is &#;terrycloth&#; and the loops are often referred to as terry loops or terry toweling. The purpose of these tiny loops is to create a surface area that is highly absorbent and able to soak in larger amounts of liquid, hence why it&#;s popular for bath towels..and towels that don't need to dry out super quickly. 


When creating a velour side, the terry-looped fabric is put through another machine and the loops are sheared off, creating a luxuriously smooth finish but, as you might expect, completely ruining the thicker cotton pile/yarn designed to actually hold water in! For everyday clothes and comfort pieces, this makes sense. For a towel, this makes absolutely no sense and is the main reason why we do not believe in velour towels...for travelling.


Why Was Velour Added to Towels?


For some reason, textile manufacturers decided to start turning half of their towels into velour to give customers a soft-to-the-touch finish on one side of their towels. This created the velour towel craze and the idea was that you could sit at a beach or wrap yourself in the velour side of the towel for a soft and comfortable feel. For a while, it made sense that you could have a dual-action towel; one side would be absorbent and another side would be soft so that you could use it for comfort.


However, as time went on, people started to realize that towels aren&#;t designed necessarily for comfort but to soak water. When you&#;re at the beach and go for a swim, nobody wants to fumble with their towel to find the absorbent side just to get dry and the last thing you want when coming out of a steaming shower is to flip your towel around looking for the water-soaking side.


What is Velour Used For?


In the past, velour was the fabric of choice between the s and s. It was soft, comfortable, could be coloured and even printed on with relative ease. It was the complete opposite of what people would usually wear and it became a huge hit for both men and women. It was popularized by pop and celebrity icons throughout the years and even saw use by some sportswear brands to create velour tracksuits. It also saw a lot of use in upholstery and furniture such as chairs, and it was very cheap to produce as opposed to velvet and it gave the impression of a high-end luxury product


Today, velour is still just as soft to the touch and used in casual wear such as pyjamas, tracksuits, slippers and dressing gowns. People are aware now that velour is just a cheaper version of velvet, even though it has also fallen out of fashion and hasn&#;t made a comeback for a long time. This has also affected the reputation of velour and it&#;s no longer a mainstream popular choice for everyday clothing.


In addition, velvet is much easier to make with modern industrial tools, making velour somewhat obsolete. It&#;s still a much cheaper option to manufacture and it&#;s still seeing a lot of use, but it&#;s taking a backseat to other fabrics. In the case of towels, many manufacturers are cutting out the velour process and instead, reverting back to towels which can actually serve their function of absorbing water and drying you.


Another popular use of velour is that it&#;s very easy to print on as opposed to other fabrics. This means that brands can easily add big logos and loud designs to a velour towel, but still, it doesn&#;t retain any of its absorbent properties from when it used to be terrycloth.


So...


We hope that makes a bit more sense to why Layday doesn't believe in terry velour towels. Not only does it ruin the absorbent properties of the towel...but we're in the game of carrying less and flatwoven towels simply pack better. 

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