The longer the cotton fiber, the more lasting the cloth. A longer twisted cotton fiber can't shed off pieces as easily as a short one does. These fibers make less lint and so don't get thin as fast. The best is linen followed by the cottons- Egyptian and then prima. All are wonderful and soft. I prefer linen but linen towels are not loopy they are flat like heavy tablecloths. Linen is naturally antibacterial and absorbs more water than cotton and dries in the air faster than cotton. A lower thread count sheet is cooler in summer than a higher thread count sheet. Try it and see. A lower thread count sheet lasts fine if the fibers are long. My linen 250 sheets have 20 years at least and are so soft now. I don't bleach them. If you want to whiten discolored linen try oxyclean. But for occasional brightening, lay them out over grass for a day in summer. Someone said something about chlorophyll.....I don't know why it works for both linen and cotton. Chlorine bleach is a killer. It breaks down fibers so they shed off lint. They become thin and brittle and eventually tear apart. Did you know that material wealth used to mean the linens a household had? Women spent years as children spinning and weaving and decorating sheets, towels and other household textiles to go into dowry chests. They were meant to last. The softest and longest lasting was linen. Ancient Egyptian linen still survives. Linen is the choice fiber for both the Vatican and the White House. Cotton is American because we don't have the right climate for flax like Belgium and Ireland. Still the looms that handle the finest thinnest cotton thread are in Switzerland and Italy I think. The beautiful cotton men's shirts are all woven there. I put traditional cotton loop towels out for guests because that's what they expect, but I use my old soft linen for myself. I sew it the size I want and it's going to outlast me.

When I was a little girl, most of our bedding was white. I remember my Mom taking a HUGE pot, boil water there, add cornstarch, and put all the bedding there..then standing there for an hour(or what seemed like an hour to me), mixing and turning it from time to time, as it was some soup. The bedding would come out squeaky clean and very crispy. But I feel like I worked on keeping it clean enough just from watching the process so many times)) So no..I'm fine with prints and colors. I know nowadays it's all easier, I also have a lot of white towels (my husband's preference)...nope, still fine with prints and colors)) Ah..one of my first random jobs was working as a cleaning girl(I'd say "lady" but I was eighteen and looked twelve)..the lady of the house had 5 storied villa (I usually cleaned only three floors though as the other two were rarely used), and she also had me washing the dishes, ironing, etc. (Hate ironing. Since then. Used to love it before)) So once she gave me this huge bucket, several white table cloths, and a big bottle of bleach, and told me to hand wash them. You haven't seen me but I never looked like anybody capable of the task)) I don't know what she was thinking to herself, but within half an hour or so my fingers started bleeding. So she saved both me and her laundry by telling me I can stop and go to do something else. That short experience also probably added to my love of prints and colors..))

Kitchen towels are only in white and therefore you don't have to worry about anything matching or needing to bleach anything or using the "wrong" towel for anything. They're all the same. I buy cheap 100% cotton terry Doctor Joe automobile polishing towels and use them in the kitchen and garage. Once they get a bit stained from kitchen use, they become garage towels. If you buy in bulk cheaply and have plenty on hand, you won't be searching for one when you need it. Group some by the sink, and others by the prep area and yet others in the laundry area. Yes, I use them for cleaning up cat puke. The yuck goes down the toilet and the towel goes in the laundry with bleach. About 2 dozen is a good starting number for the average household. If you have a large household, then maybe double that. I use an old bucket that cat litter came in as the "hamper" in the pantry. If I'm doing a project that requires a lot of them and they're too many to just drape over the side and air out behind closed doors, I usually put them on a baking sheet and place them in the oven as it's cooling down. Use that "lost heat" for something! Do you want to talk about bottled water? We switched to a filter pitcher several years ago and bought a case of bottled water annually and just refilled the bottles as we drank the original water. But they were difficult to sanitize properly and after a recent bout with a nasty GI bug that the other half blamed on a water bottle, I received a dozen plain stainless steel water bottles as a holiday present. So far, they've been a lot easier to clean and fill and I'm really glad we switched.

@miranda33 - funny you should ask. We're moving in to our new house this weekend and the Frontgate towels are being cycled through the laundry for the first time beginning yesterday! So far so good. I am using LeBlanc Towel Wash (in Summer Verbena which by the way is a wonderful smell IMO). Since they weren't dirty I've started out with 105 degree water and I'm drying on warm air only which takes a little longer but as I'm experimenting don't want to fry them :) I might experiment with hotter water in the future. They are coming out very soft and "plump" feeling. Not quite as soft as when they were new in the package but still extremely good. This could be because I'm not getting all the detergent out of them - I'm still learning my new water and a couple loads did have some excessive suds. They are putting off a fair amount of lint in the dryer but nothing excessive. The real test will be to use them and see if we get any fuzz on our skin. Haven't done that yet. They are beautiful to look at and feel. Up to this moment they have still exceeded my expectations which is saying something. I don't know what your timeline is, but if you give me a nudge on here (I might forget) I will update you on how things go after we starting actually using them.