I'd ordered these before and was happy with the quality but this is a different brand. Not as absorbent or as thick as the ones I got last year...
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Low Price Velour Reactive Printed Hand Towel.
I was hopping the towels would be a bit more plush a little on the stiff side. But they were perfect for being tie-dyed and look great1
The low pile is good for dying and makes them fast-drying. They seem well-made but they are about as big as a bath towel NOT the giant sheet the model is shown with.
Worked great to die these at a birthday party! Didn't have to order multiple sizes of shirts that way. Make sure you REALLY saturate the towels so that the color goes right through to the middle.
Very soft but not very absorbent. Dye well except the thread. They aren't stitched with cotton thread.
Very nice quality. Dyed beautifully. Not a hugely thick towel but this is good because it would have soaked up so much more dye. Towels are very soft and velvety and good sized for beachswim towels.
I read some of these reviews before buying so I only bought one to check the quality first. The towel isn't as big as the picture implies but I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent quality. It took the dye SO well the colours are more vivid on this than anything else I have dyed. But also it didn't use up too much dye. I love that it has the terry towelling side and the softer side (not sure what you call that). The towel is very absorbant and dries pretty quickly. I gave this one to my boyfriend for Christmas but I will be getting more to sell. I think they're going to sell really quickly. It would be good it we could get them a bit bigger like the bath sheet size but these ones are still awesome and I totally recommend them.
These are the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" of towels. Not too thin, not too thick, but just right. They're actually really nice. Surprisingly soft! 100% cotton terry velour, sheared (low nap) so they're better for dyeing, painting, stamping, or printing. Good weight - almost one pound each. Absolutely a great item to decorate. Go for it, get wild, give it to your parents, make them wild, whatever!
You can combine cotton and rayon clothing & accessories to get the greatest discounts. Your discount is figured on the total number of cotton and rayon items we ship, not how many of each type, style or size. Mix and match them to get the best discount.
Example: adding 4 each of 3 different T-shirts in any sizes will give you the 12+ price on all 12 shirts.
Some products may be excluded from discounts, and / or may discount only with themselves. If you have any questions at all please contact us toll free at 800-542- (no buttons, just humans).
Dyeing and Finishing Process
Right after weaving the rolls of toweling are brought to the dyeing and/or processing section of the factory.
As discussed earlier the main fiber which is used in towels is cotton. As cotton fiber is not sensitive to alkali or chlorine bleach but is to acids thus all the dyeing and finishing processes must be planned with these knowledge. Like other textile materials the dyeing and finishing stage of terry towels generally follow the workflow shown below
Cotton needs a pretreatment before dyeing. Fiber preparation ordinarily involves scouring to remove foreign material and thus ensures even access to dye liquor from the dye bath. This was done before the Spinning Stage, but after words we took the yarns and put sizing on them, this must be removed. The steps of pretreatment are shown below:
Desizing is intended to remove size from the fabric to ensure even bleaching, level dyeing and soft handle. Desizing processes differentiate according to the sizing agent used.
The classical desizing process consists of removing the starch from towel fabric using enzymes. This desizing process simply involves liquefying the film of size on the product. Bacterial, malt and pancreas amylases are used as desizing agents. Enzymatic desizing is the classical desizing process of degrading starch size on cotton fabrics using enzymes. Enzymes are complex organic, soluble bio-catalysts, formed by living organisms that catalyze chemical reaction in biological processes. Enzymes are quite specific in their action on a particular substance. A small quantity of enzyme is able to decompose a large quantity of the substance it acts upon. Enzymes are usually named by the kind of substance degraded in the reaction it catalyzes.
Effective enzymatic desizing requires strict control of pH, temperature, water hardness, electrolyte addition and choice of surfactant. Enzyme sources are either from animal origin (slaughter house waste &#; pancreas, clotted blood, liver etc.), vegetable origin (malt extract &#; made from germinated barley), and bacterial (produced by growing cultures of certain micro organisms). Bacterial enzymes are preferred because of their activity over a wider pH range and tolerance to variations in pH. Since desizing is carried out on greige fabric, which is essentially non-absorbent, a wetting and penetrating agent is incorporated into the desizing liquor.
Dyeing Section with Small VesselsReactive Dyes
The following factors explain why the usage of reactive dyes are the best solution for toweling.
BRIGHT SHADES
The reactive dyes are the brightest dyes available for the cellulose fibres and have a full range of shades.
GOOD FASTNESS PROPERTIES
Color Fastness is the resistance of a material to change in any of its color characteristics, the resistance to transfer its colorant to adjacent materials, or both, as a result of the exposure of the material to any environment that might be encountered during the processing, testing, storage, or use of the material by the consumer.
WASH FASTNESS
Towels dyed with reactive dyes have very good wash fastness properties. The wash fastness rating is about 4-5 per AATTCC standards.
LIGHT FASTNESS
Towels dyed with reactive dyes have very good light fastness. The light fastness rating being about 6 per AATTCC standards. These dyes have a very stable electron arrangement and provide very good resistance to the degrading effect of the UV component of sunlight. There are, however, some reactive dyes with only fair light fastness
BLEACHING FASTNESS
The reactive dyes are stable to peroxide bleaching and so are suitable for towels which might be used in the Bathroom around cosmetics. Strong reducing agents and chlorine, however, destroy the chromogens.
EASY APPLICATION
Reactive dyes offer a great flexibility in application methods with a wide choice of equipment and process sequences and so they have become very popular with most all modern mills. These are applied through exhaust and continuous systems both very comfortably.
MODERATE COST
Reactive dyes as compared to vats are of lesser costs considering the fastness properties of both. The dyeing process involved in vat dyeing is also costly which involves certain steps like reduction and oxidation. On the other hand reactive dyeing is free from these steps.
ECO-FRIENDLINESS
Many consumers also appreciate the eco-friendliness of fiber reactive dyes. Some companies process the dyes with natural ingredients and materials, focusing on creating a product with a minimum of harmful waste. Since the dyes are colorfast, they will not bleed into wash water, leading to a reduction in dye-laden water runoff, which can be harmful for the environment.
Printing
Printing is local dyeing in zones according to patterns. Thickeners are added to the dyes to ensure that these zones defined by the engraved pattern are adhered to. The type and size of the artistic design determine the printing process and method of dye paste application. Various printing types like direct printing, discharge printing and resist printing and techniques like roller printing and full screen printing are available for the colorist to realize the print idea.
Panel Flat Bed Printing LineScreen Printing is the most popular style of printing. An example of this would be the Fiber reactive printed Beach towels you so often see in stores during the spring and summer. A screen is cut for each color in the design, the screens are arraigned on a flat bed printing line and the terry fabric is drawn through the bed and stops at each screen to allow that screen to apply its color. You can make any quality towel you want and they screen print. But usually the quality is around 400 GSM and the towel quality is usually pretty poor. The only process that the towel has gone through after weaving is desizing and bleaching. You will notice that the background color on most Fiber reactive towels is either white or Ivory.
Package Dyeing
Package Dyeing or sometimes called yarn dyeing, is when the yarn is wound on dye tubes as packages, each with a hollow center that allows liquid to flow through it. The packages are stacked on perforated, hollow posts, and dye liquor is pumped through these. Package machines are enclosed and can be pressurized so dye liquor can reach temperatures above atmospheric boiling point (100 C) for faster dyeing. The term yarn-dyed is associated with quality in woven fabrics. A pattern with dyed yarns looks sharper than one printed. The fabric will probably be more colorfast. The yarn dyeing process takes place between spinning and weaving steps.
Single Packages before and after DyeingEarlier we discussed jacquard weaving. As most of the Jacquard towel sold in the US are for beach towels almost all of these are made with yarns dyed before weaving. In addition, all stripe towels are made with package dyed yarns.
Yarn dyeing is more expensive for several reasons, one, the size of the dye vessels is limited therefore you have to dye a certain number of KG's of a single color. If you do not use all of this color during the weaving process, the wasted yarns is pretty much useless. Two, yarn dying take much more time than piece dyeing, so it takes longer to build the product. Three, if the towel does not come off the loom perfect, there is no way to fix the problem and the towel becomes a second or third quality instantly. With a Greige towel, you can go back and fix the color, but with a Yarn dyed towel you can never change the color after dyeing. Four, a towel mill through experience has a good idea as to how many seconds will be woven in the normal production. So if they plan on 10% seconds in production and were planning to make 4,000 towels, they would actually produce 4,400 towels. If the towel is a dobby solid color towel and they need to make more, then it is pretty easy to beam up a dobby loom and make a few more to complete an order. But with a Yarn Dyed jacquard towel they would have to go all the way back to the beginning of the process and take the Single Packages and dye them. Remember the size of the dye vessels, yes, they would have to dye hundreds of pounds of each color just to make 400 towels. This process can take 2-3 weeks of time and they would have to throw away hundreds of pounds of wasted yarns.
Yarn Dyed towels cost more because they create waste for the factory. They would still have to pay for the chemicals to dye, pay the labor to dye, and cover the overhead of the production, just to make a few additional products to complete the order. All of the profit from the order would be lost.
Final Finishing of Terry Towels
Finishing treatments applied to the fabric after dyeing and printing it can be divided into two categories:
1- Chemical (or Wet) Treatments
2-Mechanical (or Decorative), Treatments
CHEMICAL TREATMENTS
HYDROPHILIC TREATMENT
Silicones are added to the towel to give better absorbency properties. It is also used to give a soft feel.
SOFTENING
The three basic types of softeners which are used on towels are cationic softeners, non- ionic softeners and silicones. Cationic softeners give good softness, but also some yellowness, so are only used for colored towels. Non-ionic softeners have less softening effect but are used in white towels due to the colorlessness of the chemicals. Silicones are the best and the most expensive of the softeners. Hydrophilic silicones also increase the absorbency of the towel. There are also applications of enzymatic softening using cellulases. Please be careful here, as not all softening agents will give you a positive absorbency, many towel have softeners added to them that have a negative effect on absorbency. In addition, lost cost softeners will wash out of the towel after several washes and the harsh feeling will return to the product. This process is done often in lower priced towels, to give them a soft feel in the store, but after a few washes the softener wash out of the towel and you are left with a rough and cheap towel.
ANTIMICROBIAL TREATMENT
Towels can be treated with anti microbial finishes in order to prevent mold and mildew, reduce odor and minimize spread of harmful organisms. Two types of antibacterial and deodorant finishes are available. The first is applied during fiber-forming process at the spinning section, whereas the other is incorporated into the finishing process. The second approach is more versatile and widely adapted. Chemical entities are responsible for imparting antibacterial attributes including fungicides and bactericides. Obtaining anti microbial properties by using anti microbial fibers is achieved by anchoring the anti microbial agent in the fiber. Trevira Bioactive (R) is an example of anti microbial fiber used in towels which has proven to fully retain its anti microbial effect after 100 domestic or 50 commercial wash cycles. Again, you must be careful with any process that is added to the cotton after the weaving process. Most of these additives will wash out of the cotton after many washes. The Trevira Bioactive (R) above is very expensive and most consumers are not willing to pay for this process. If a towel factory adds a less expensive Antimicrobal treatment, after the weaving, I assure you it will wash out after 25-50 washes. Still, that may be enough to satisfy your desire to keep you towels fresh for a couple of years. Anti microbial treatments such as Silver Fresh which actually adds a small silver yarn to the cotton yarn during spinning, will not wash out and will last for the life of the product. The silver yarn when wet will immit ions which kill bacteria without washing out and further adding to pollution. Again, retaielrs are reluctant to offer a towel product that is as expensive as using silver yarns, so this is a very hard product to sell to the retail stores.
MECHANICAL TREATMENTS
The main aims of mechanical treatments are to give the towels fuller volume, and dimensional stability and dryness. They also are used to further add value to the product by changing the decorative value of the towels.
TUMBLE DRYING
The towel is given a fluffy and soft hand, and some particles are removed during drying. The common way is to use continuous tumbler dryer generally called Turbang®, which is the brand name of the machine brand. The second way is to use tumble dryers which are a huge version of domestic tumble dryers.
SHEARING
It is quite common practice to shear the terry loops after manufacture in order to create a cut-pile effect. Many hand towels are sold with one face showing the traditional terry loop, while the other side shorn to give the velour effect.
Beach towels are sheared so as to give the design better clarity. Holiday towels are sheared for the same reason or to give embroidery designs a better base to show off their added value, and decorative nature.
Shearing is applied to the pile fabric, by passing it over a cylinder with blades like a giant cylindrical lawnmower. The velour fabric is then brushed with bristles set in a cylinder to remove cut bits of fiber. Brushing leaves the surface fiber lying in one direction so care must be taken to have all the fabrics in the same batch laid out in the same direction, or light will reflect off various pieces differently. The pile fabric is guided across the shearing table and is sheared between the shearing blades mounted on a cylinder and a fixed blade.
Please note that is it impossible to shear both sides of a towel because if you did the cut loops would fall out, the continuous loop is what holds the loop yarns together. Therefore you will only see sheared towels on one side.
Sheared towels have a velour effect and the color will change slightly give the direction from which you view the towel.
STENTERING
Stentering is a controlled straightening and stretching process of cloth which has been pulled out of shape due to the many vigorous finishing processes. The selvedges of the cloth are attached to a series of pins/hooks/clips as it is fed through a stenter machine which is an oven of controlled temperature. During the process, as the pins/hooks/clips are gradually placed further apart width ways, the cloth is slowly and permanently brought out to the desired width. Stentering gives the fabric particular dimensions of length and width, and eliminates creasing.
CUTTING AND SEWING
In this stage, towels pass through five steps:
Longitudinal cutting
Longitudinal hemming
Cross cutting
Cross hemming
and of course inspection.
These processes are achieved by scissors and standard sewing machines by workers or by machines specialized in towel cutting machines in most modern mills. The automatic machines which can carry out some of or all of these processes. Lengthwise cutting machines are used for the first step of this stage, longitudinal cutting of towels which have been produced on the weaving loom as several panels joined side by side. In these machines, there are several cutters which cut lengthwise between the towel panels in order to separate them. The cutting process can be carried out by means of a pressing blade on a motorized roll in the lengthwise cutter.
Next, longitudinal hemming is achieved by lengthwise hemming machines, most of which are usually equipped with two 401 chain stitch sewing machines, one on the right side and one on the left side, for the longitudinal hemming of towels.
After lengthwise hemming, towels pass through cross cutting as the third step. Labels can be attached during cross cutting and hemming. Transversal cutting machines carry out product stacking and automatic discharge.
The cut product is stacked in layers one on the other.
Most American wash cloths are sewn by hand as they require a special stitch around the rounded corners, the European wash cloth is square and therefore can be done an the automatic side and cross stitching machines.
After the towels are stacked, they are inspected and folded according to the customers specifications. Most retailers will have independent inspectors come to the factory and take representative samples of the towels for measurement and weight. Often they will also take samples and send them to outside laboratories to be tested for washing and use to be sure that the towels so in fact perform to their requirements. Some of the largest and most reliable factories will do this testing themselves to be sure that the products they are making are up to their own standards. Then they are put into cartons and sealed and marked with the carton markings as per the customer request.
From the Packing room the cartons of the towels are usually stored for a short time in a warehouse so as to accumulate the entire order from the retailer. Once the order has been completed, the cartons are put into ocean containers and shipped to the closest ocean port for loading on a container ship.
Between three to four weeks later the container is delivered to a port in the US. Customs brokers with with the US Customs officials to clear the containers and have them picked up by either trucks or train and delivered to the retailers distribution center.
To give you an idea as to how much toweling is being made, in the larger factories in the world, each factory is shipping between 15-20 containers per day. Each container will hold about 15 tons of towels. That is a lot of towels.
From here our tour of the towel factory has ended, but we still have much more to tell you, so be sure to go forward to the Types of Towels to learn about all of the different kinds of towels you will find in the retail stores and on line.
After that please check out the World Factories to see the largest towel factories in the world as well as the names of some of the better smaller factories.
If you are interested in purchasing towels in the near future please go to our list of what we feel are the best towels in the market today at the More Shopping page.