Microfiber Towels

Standard weave, waffle weave, twisted loop; satin edge, rolled edge, edgeless; short nap, long nap, no nap…the microfiber landscape can be a bit confusing and sometimes even dangerous with all of the Creatures prowling about.

Obviously here at Esoteric we have distilled our microfiber needs down to the most efficient and effective and while we’re continually testing new products in this area, it’s going to take something pretty special to become a contender given our current, time-tested and proven lineup. 

In any event, we should get the mundane technical details out of the way…or not. Does it really matter what GSM the towel is (grams per square meter, a measure of density of the towel) if it works for the task at hand? Do you feel better using a towel where the blend is 70/30 or 80/20 (polyester/polyamide) if it simply performs as expected? Does the origin of the towel matter or should we not care much if the fibers produced in Korea are thought to be of higher quality than those produced in China; if the towel works, the towel works! Well that was unexpected…a few technical details slipped in there! And for those keeping score at home we prefer towels in the 300-500gsm range, with a 70-30 blend. It’s not that we looked for towels in those ranges and then put them to use but rather we tested many towels, those were the ones we liked and the specs, well…they are what they are!

One item that helps keep us ‘in-the-loop’ with our voluminous stock of microfiber towels, that is working effectively and efficiently with them throughout our day is simply color-coding the towels based on usage/type. When we need a soft, exterior towel…look for lavender; a less dainty towel for wheels and door jambs, look for black. A glass towel is going to be gray…all easily identifiable with a glance with no worry of weight, softness or type. Makes the somewhat unpleasant task of microfiber laundry a bit less painful as well, less sorting based upon "Where has this towel been..." considerations!

Speaking of laundry, how should you wash your microfiber towels? To begin with, wash them all by type, something easily done if you have color-coded your towel usage. Use a quality microfiber detergent such as Gyeon Towel Wash or Micro-Restore Microfiber Detergent. Some fear melting their microfiber towels by washing in hot but unless your water heater/water supply for the washer is providing source water in excess of 140 degrees F, there is no fear of melting the fibers. As for drying, *that* is something best left to the lowest setting on your dryer. And skip the fabric softener sheets!

A bit more info from Todd on washing your towels:

And yes, you will see Todd doing laundry around our shop if the need arises; the real question is will you see him toting a laundry basket at home?

While we do have mountains of towels around the shop, always shuttling between clean, being-washed, and needing to be washed, we really don’t use a wide variety of types/towels.

Our own personal Hit List of Favorites: ( All conveniently bundled together in our Esoteric Essential Microfiber Towel Kit )

  • The Rag Company EDGELESS 300: The workhorse; from the initial wipe when applying a ceramic coating to interior work and even polish residue removal on occasion, you can never have too many of these around!
  • The Rag Company EAGLE EDGELESS 350: The Queen of exterior work; polish removal, the final wipe on a ceramic coating application, wax, sealants, Cosmic Spritz, Overcoat…all meet the tender fibers of this towel at some point! Available in Lavender and Yellow, this towel is so useful we have it in 2 colors for different usage scenarios! Lavender for exterior work, Yellow for interior jobs where only the softest touch will do, i.e. piano black, nav screens, gauge clusters, etc.
  • The Rag Company CREATURE Black Microfiber Towels: The tough but tender choice for the dirty work of wheels, metal polishing, door jambs and such.
  • ESOTERIC Red Premium Microfiber Towels: The plushest towels we use, often for fine paste wax removal as well as polish removal.
  • Esoteric Premium Glass Towels: Twisted loop, the preferred choice for glass cleaning!
  • Gyeon Q2M Silk Dryer EVO Microfiber Towels: Our preferred drying towels, used in conjunction with a BigBoi air dryer for safe, convenient drying!

For additional information, check out our Ultimate Guide To Microfiber Detailing Towels video: