01 — Imabari, Ehime
Towels woven in one town in southern Japan, since 1894.
Eight bath and hand towels from four mills in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. Imported directly through our distributor in Imabari, shipped from California. Nothing else.
02 — Catalog
Three sizes, eight towels.
03 — What “Imabari” means
Three reasons it’s different.
01
Water
The Soja River is uncommonly soft.
Imabari has been a textile region since 1894 because of its water. Low calcium, low magnesium — cotton dyes deeper and rinses cleaner. No two regions in Japan have water like this.
02
Standard
A 5-second water absorption test.
The Imabari Towel Association requires every certified towel to absorb water within 5 seconds of contact. Ours pass on the first wash. Most luxury towels need 3–4 washes to soften enough to absorb at all.
03
Path
One distributor. Direct flight.
We work with one distributor in Imabari, who visits the mills personally. We import to Long Beach, ship from California. No third country, no middleman markup.
04 — Origin
We don’t make towels. We find the right ones.
Towelshop is a U.S. based company. Our entire catalog is sourced from mills in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture — all certified by the Imabari Towel Association. We don’t white label, we don’t blend, and we don’t carry anything that isn’t woven in Imabari.
By the numbers
1894
Year Imabari became a textile region
5 sec
Maximum water absorption time, Imabari standard
100%
Of our towels woven in Imabari, Japan
1
Distributor between mill and our warehouse
Letters from Imabari