What to Know About Cotton Towel Lint

Cotton towels are essential in any well-curated home, rental property, Airbnb, or boutique hotel. A common concern, however, is the lint that can come with new towels. While linting is perfectly normal, understanding why your cotton towels lint can help you choose the right products and manage your expectations for their lifespan.

How Cotton Yarn Affects Linting

The type of cotton yarn used in towel manufacturing dramatically influences how much lint a towel will produce. Here are the two main types:

• Combed Cotton (long-staple): Premium Cotton is made by carefully combing long fibers to remove shorter fibers. The result is a smoother finish with significantly less lint. 

• Carded Cotton (short-staple): Cotton processed in this manner is good, but it has shorter fibers, which are more likely to shed. Towels from carded cotton may produce more lint, especially during the first few washes. Towels made with this process may be less expensive than combed cotton towels.

The Impact of Manufacturing on Linting

The process used to color the towels also plays a crucial role in linting. There are two primary dyeing methods:

• Reactive Dyeing: Towels are woven and then go through bleaching, dyeing, washing, and finishing. The multiple washing stages help remove loose fibers, resulting in a towel that produces less lint.

• Yarn Dyeing: In this method, the yarn is dyed before being woven into towels. While this can produce vibrant colors, the process can weaken the yarn, particularly in darker colors, leading to more linting.

Managing Lint: What to Expect

While linting is expected during the first few washes, especially in yarn-dyed towels, quality manufacturing can minimize it. Host & Home's towels are crafted from premium long-staple combed cotton yarn, ensuring lint levels remain within acceptable ranges set by industry standards.

• Industry Standards: A universal rule that textile manufacturers adhere to is that lint must not exceed 0.90% of a towel's weight after five wash/dry cycles. Our towels undergo rigorous testing to ensure they meet these standards.

• Our Test Results: We asked the industry experts at SGS to test our California Cabana towels for linting. They found that, based on an average of all colors' scores, the California Cabana towel's lint score was 0.45%. 

• That Is Half of the maximum acceptable score of 0.90%!

The Bottom Line on Lint

Some linting is natural, especially in new towels, but with proper care and high-quality textiles, the lint will decrease over time. A well-made towel will shed less than 1% of its weight in lint, making it a durable and luxurious addition to any home or property.