Cambridge Towels

I have made a stunning discovery!

Here is how it all started. Last year our towels started to smell bad, even when they were fresh out of the wash. I tried bleach, la la la! Fianlly, I slowly started to throw out all the towels that had this issue and by the time I was done, we needed new towels! Well it's not even a year later and the damn towels are starting to smell funny again!! There is nothing worse then being all clean and freshly showered and then burying your face in a smelly towel. Life's too short to live like that!
So now I'm on a hunt for new towels, locally made towels that is. I had heard about these towels that are manufactured in Ottawa and that were sold at Bettenhaus at 2393 Bloor St. W. can't get much better than that, right? The towels are fairly local, at least they are Canadian made, and I'm going to be supporting a neighbourhood shop! Well off I go!

Ha! Not only was my visit very informative it was a little disillusioning. I had a great chat with the gentleman there, but boy did he open my eyes to the whole industry of bed linens and bath towels. Apparently there is almost no fabric "manufacturing" done in Canada anymore, there's a whole history but I don't want to get political here, or anywhere else for that matter. Anyways, it seems that the fabric is made elsewhere, and then shipped here and only the final touches to make duvet covers, sheets, and towels are done here. If you are trying to support local/Canadian businesses or even just support the "little guy"  and get a quality product there are several great Canadian options. But as far as 100 mile finds is concerned though, there needs to be a "transformation" from an internationally sourced product that is significant, to deem it locally manufactured! That's just us, and our criteria, we had to draw the line somewhere. I could go off on a tangent here, but I'll save that for another day.
Well does this gentleman (I didn't get his name) not say the only local  towel manufacturer he knows of is Cambridge Towels and he has no idea if they are even still around! How exciting it that!

Well, I rush home and get on the computer and do a little research. They ARE still around, but now I have to make sure that they are making a quality product. It's amazing what you can find out if you just search it on the internet!


Here's what I found out makes a good towel:

• 100% cotton
• The cotton needs to be Supima from the USA, Egyptian or Brazilian (I'm sure there are others, but these seem to be the top three)
• There are two kinds of towels, terry cloth which is more absorbent (the more loops the better) or Velour, you must use these towels to blot rather than dry! Some towels are terry on one side and velour on the other!
• Thickness is very important too! The thicker the better, and you want thick loops too! 

Who knew!? We all know, who knew, they know everything, maybe not as much as we do about towels though, except if they are reading the blog, which I think they might be! ANYWAYS! While I'm searching on the internet about towels I decide to find out why the damn towels are getting smelly. Apparently they aren't drying thoroughly between uses...  One of them had actually thrown that out as a possibility!!! How annoying is that!!!

So now I go to the Cambridge Towel Corporation website and guess what, they've got towels that fit the bill! Hallelujah!
Mantles sold at the Bay and Riviera sold at Sears!
Now I've gotta go and get my new locally manufactured towels, (I wonder if they are available at locally owned store? That would be perfect!) and then I've got to find a locally made towel dryer...
I gotta go!