Caring for Your Organic Cotton Towels
Loop Home towels are woven at a heavy 650 GSM — 700 GSM for bath mats — from GOTS-certified organic cotton. Those long, soft, plush loops are what make them feel the way they do, and with the right care they stay soft and absorbent for years.
This guide covers everything: how to prepare your towels for first use, how to wash them, how to dry them, and how to handle the small things (like the occasional loose thread) so your towels last.
Before first use
Wash your towels through one full cycle before you use them. New towels carry a light finishing residue from manufacturing — the first wash removes it and lets the organic cotton reach full absorbency.
Don't be surprised if your towels feel their most plush only after a few washes. Organic cotton softens with use, not against it.
How to wash your towels
- Wash in a full load together with other items, using a natural detergent on a gentle cycle with warm water.
- Front loader: a standard gentle cycle is all you need.
- Top loader: place your towels in a laundry bag first. Because the heavy loops hold water, towels in a top loader generate extra friction when wet, which can cause linting. A laundry bag protects the fibres, reduces wear during the cycle, and keeps your towels feeling softer for longer.
- Avoid washing your towels with anything that has zips, buckles, or hooks — they catch and pull on the loops.
- Skip fabric softener and bleach entirely. Fabric softener coats the cotton fibres and reduces absorbency over time; bleach weakens the fibres and can strip the colour. Be mindful of skincare products too — some active ingredients can discolour the fabric on contact.
How to dry your towels
Line drying is best. It's the gentlest option for the fibres and uses no energy.
If you tumble dry, use low heat and low speed. High heat is the main cause of premature wear in cotton towels — keeping it low meaningfully extends their life.
What to do about loose threads
From time to time, a loose thread may appear. This is normal in woven towelling — it's not a defect.
Never pull a loose thread. Instead, snip it at the base with scissors. Pulling can unravel the loop and damage the towel over time.
Common care questions
Snip it at the base with scissors — never pull it. A loose thread is normal in woven towelling and isn't a defect, but pulling one can unravel the loop and damage the towel.
Wash your bath towels regularly, and always hang them to dry fully between uses. Damp towels left bunched up are where odour and mildew start — airflow between uses matters as much as how often you wash.
No. Fabric softener coats the cotton fibres with a thin film that reduces absorbency over time — the opposite of what you want from a towel. Skip it entirely.
Yes — on low heat and low speed. Line drying is gentler and our first recommendation, but tumble drying on low is fine. Avoid high heat: it's the single biggest cause of premature wear in cotton towels.
Light linting is common in the first few washes, and more common in top loaders where the wet loops generate friction. Wash your towels in a laundry bag, keep them out of loads with lint-catching fabrics, and the shedding settles after the first few cycles.
Loop Home colours are dyed into the yarn before weaving, not printed on top, so they hold up well. Wash with like colours, skip bleach, and avoid leaving wet towels in direct sun for long periods. The colour matures gently rather than fading sharply.
Send them back to us through Re-Loop, our take-back program. We mechanically recycle the cotton into other home products and credit you 20% of RRP toward your next order. Learn more on our Re-Loop page.
Every Loop Home towel is GOTS-certified organic cotton, woven by a family-run mill in Türkiye and designed in Melbourne. Looking after them well keeps them soft, absorbent, and out of landfill for as long as possible.
Learn more about our GOTS-certified organic cotton, or shop the full range.