Nick Spain, founder of multidisciplinary design studio Arthur’s, loves Melbourne-based brand Baina’s checkerboard-patterned towels, also stocked at Ssense and the Break. While they can be machine-dried on low heat, the brand recommends line drying, which Kitchens does, to prolong their lifespan.Ībsorbency: High (600 GSM) | Material: 100 percent organic cotton | Style: Eight styles, including checkerboard, grid, and striped “They check all the boxes.” Kitchens notes that they come with unique washing instructions to prevent pilling: Before using, wash them once with distilled vinegar or baking soda, then a second time with detergent. “They’re thick - and legitimately reversible,” she says. As for how they feel, Kitchens says the made-in-Portugal towels are “super absorbent and feel much thicker than any towel I’ve tried,” and Phillips agrees. “I like that you could have any assortment and they would look good together,” Kitchens says, adding that they would look particularly nice in a “super minimal tiled bathroom.” Both Phillips and Kitchens own the Ester pattern, a navy-and-ecru print inspired by traditional Katazome stencil practices.

Senior editor Simone Kitchens, who first saw them on designer Katie Lockhart’s Instagram and was sent some to test, also recommends them for their surprising patterns. (Phillips says they are “reminiscent somehow of Norwegian glazed pottery,” or as her boyfriend describes, “late geometric.”) I covet more.”) The tight collection is made with prints inspired by ikat weaving techniques, antique Japanese patterns, and 19th-century French trim. Publicist Kaitlin Phillips, who says she’s never been one to covet towels as long as they were “big, thick, and oddly colored,” loves ones by Autumn Sonata, a new homeware brand founded in Los Angeles and based in Amsterdam, for their “unbelievably good colors” that are “inky, mature (walnut, ecru), and notably forgiving of stains.” (Phillips says she owns “almost every design. I would give these towels as a gift.”Ībsorbency: High (600 GSM) | Material: 100 percent cotton | Style: Patterned, reversible

Plus, she says, “They make me feel wealthy. She and her fiancé like them so much that he, “a longtime towel snob,” insists on doing laundry just so they can put the two they have back in rotation.

“Straight out of the box, they were noticeably weighty and felt like luxury spa towels,” she says, adding that their plushness “felt like three ordinarily soft towels put together.” But it was their size - they measure 40 by 65 inches (the brand’s standard towel is 30 by 58 inches) - that appealed to Miles the most: “As someone who is taller and curvier than the average towel can accommodate, I love how the towel hits my shins and wraps completely around my body (and my hips specifically).” And while the towels are super-absorbent, with a GSM of 800, “I don’t find that they take a really long time to dry.” Made from a blend of cotton and bamboo viscose, they’ve stayed “soft and smooth, even after being washed and dried,” according to Miles. Strategist writer Latifah Miles swears by the bath sheets from Cozy Earth, which were sent to her as a sample. Speaking of bath sheets, if you want something you can truly swathe yourself in, consider sizing up from a regular-size towel to a sheet, which is typically about 50 percent larger than a standard towel. Absorbency: Very high (800 GSM)| Material: 40 percent bamboo viscose, 60 percent cotton | Style: 6 colors

Do heated towel rails dry towels