I even bought some expensive Egyptian cotton towels and they really didn't hold up the way I thought they should have for the price.

I made the same mistake. Were they on Amazon? I bought some crappy Egyptian cotton towels that started to fall apart immediately.

Since our towels and sheets are made out of this country now doesn't matter what you buy so much is treated. A few good washings should remove this stuff. Good quality textiles is going to have a high price tag, even than you just don't know.Wish Roc would open a US factory, than you would be sure to get only the best. Oh Well, its free to dream. LOL

GMO cotton have pesticides that do not wash out. I wish they did. I don't like the idea of drying off and getting a dose of pesticide.

No, I think I got mine from JC Penneys and Macy's.

Do not buy Lands End supima towels if you wash with hot water. They will lose their heavenly softness and become irrevocably scratchy.

@chezron - Organic towels are difficult. Cuddledown has two lines -- Trescott which are 700 g towels made in Portugal and Vossen which are Oeko-Tex certified and made in Austria. Here's a link for Vossen -- if you use Google chome browser it will translate for you..

The thing with towels is weight and style. That pretty much ranges from 800 grams per square meter to 450 grams -- ie. heavy to light weight. There is no way to verify the type of cotton used, where it is grown, or whether it actually is organic. No standards here. We are all buying on trust. Towels get scratchy/stiff because short-grain cotton is used to make the yarn. It's difficult today find towels made with high quality cotton that we knew years ago -- 20th C American cotton made in American mills in North Carolina. Those towels are gone (though I have a few in my basement). There are high quality cotton towels available but usually they are not organic and the largest bath sheets cost over $100 each.

Coyuchi is the best known all-organic house. They have several lines which all meet the organic criteria. I purchased their air weight towels because, at the time, they were the only ones I liked in the 500 g weight range. I didn't want heavy towels and didn't want the traditional loops or the dobby. The color range is excellent.

I've had those towels about 2 years now. I wash them in warm with 1/2 cap of Ecover softener and they are fine. They get scratchy if I don't use the softener because, as it was explained to me, the organic cotton is drier somehow. Can't recall which cotton is used or where it is grown -- I think their entire production is in India. The towels are woven in India. I like the style and the towels but Coyuchi is a PITA to deal with. Their quality control is not good, their customer service needs to go to charm school, and their shipping is slow. I had to get replacement towels three time though they sent them out after I sent photos of the issues. They don't update the website so you can order towels and, if they don't have them, you wait and they don't contact you. When you call them they are surprised you didn't get their call.

That said, the towels look good and launder well. They are comfortable and I like them. They can be trusted to be organic.

Alternately, there are crazy expensive towels that will be soft after washing because the cotton quality is so good. Schlossberg of Switzerland offers organic towels.

I'm sure others will post in with additional organic sources. But again, there is organic and then there is what you want in a towel.

Excellent rundown on towels Rococo. I particularly liked the "charm school" remark, love it!

All too true, alas. However, I will say this about Coyuchi. They aren't crazy expensive (though not cheap) and even with the poor quality control the towels are very nice. They come in sealed plastic bags with silica inside. So each bag must be opened, the towel must be shaken to remove the silica (you don't want that in the washer which happened to me once). Then the towels must be carefully inspected as multiple towels I purchased had pulls straight from the bag. I never experienced that with any other brand.

I especially like their small hammam (Turkish) style thin hand towels with fringe. These are not looped, they are flat-woven with a waffle weave and they are hand towel size. I use them as face towels as I don't like the feel of the loops any longer. Those are super absorbent and dry quickly. I only had the fringe on one or two go bad and they were replaced. I air dry those.

Yesterday, Coyuchi introduced a bathrobe made of that waffle textile. So tempting!

That were good to know Roc.

After I read what you wrote I did a google search for organic towles in Sweden and here there alot of places to buy them, a normal bathtowl is from 32 dollar and up.

Also just read a test of bathtowles and Ikeas Afjarden/Åfjärden did get best in test, it is a thick towl 590gr/m2 , got 2 bathsheets for christmas and love them.