How to make the most out of your beach towel

How to make the most out of your beach towel

Amancara's Forte dei Marmi Striped Beach Towel

Do you think your beach towel is just a colourful barrier between you and the sand? Wrong. That water-wicking blanket is actually an intricately designed instrument, fine-tuned to provide you with the best possible beach and poolside experience. Therefore, it's entirely possible that you've been using it wrong all along.

The beach towel is not just an oversized, elaborately patterned bathroom towel, used to dry you off any old how. It has two distinct sides, designed for two very different purposes!

Amancara's Royal Beach Towel

The side that'll look most familiar is the one made for drying. It's excellent for water removal, but is less comfortable for sitting on. This surface is comprised of loops designed to wick away water. You need sufficient length in the loops that you'll get enough surface area, without the beach towel getting too heavy because then it won't dry quickly. All of the beach towels in Accademia Firenze’s collection are perfectly balanced in this respect.

Regular bathroom towels tend to have more tightly packed loops. People don't really mind if it takes their bath towel 24 hours to dry because it's typically only used once a day. They pick up more water, but their density and weight also make them slower to dry out. But people take beach towels from the pool to the spa to the lawn chair and back again, and they expect their towels to make the trip without becoming soaking wet. So the loops are more spread out in order that air can more easily get in and make quick work of drying them.

Amancara's  Bamboo Beach Towel

The towel's reverse side also prevents it from becoming water-logged. This is because it's not really designed to take on water. It's main job is to provide you with a comfortable place for you to lay on. It's soft! And because the soft side's purpose is to face the sky, it also tends to be adorned with an elaborate pattern. Manufacturers achieve both of these purposes by lopping off the tops of the loops on this side of the towel. The result is a super comfy and uniform velour surface that's more amenable to printing. Additionally, the sheared off top means less weight.

The hardest part is really finding the balance between beauty and quality. You want something that looks great, but is still absorbent. Looks alone would produce a super-printable, all velour towel that wouldn’t help you to get dry after a dip in the pool. But on the other hand, something that's super efficient at taking on water will never dry, and tends to be hard to print on. So towel designers find a happy medium by making one light and soft for lounging, and another to pick up water.

And when you're finished at the beach, don't throw it in the wash with fabric softener, it makes the surface of the fibres silky and less absorbent. So next time you need a beach towel's services, be sure to use treat it right so it can do the same for you. So remember, soft side up for relaxing, looped side in for drying.

Amancara  - Luxury Italian Cashmere, Bedding & Bath Linen