Flat-woven Turkish towels
Bay Laurel weaves Turkish beach towels flat. Sand shakes off the surface. They dry quickly, so no musty smell in the bag. Each 39 by 71 inch towel folds into its own drawstring bag about 11.5 inches tall. Forty-three colorways to choose from.
In its own bag43 beach colorways, $15.95 to $24.95. Every chip goes straight to that towel.
The Bay Laurel catalogue runs to three lines and 95 options, all of them flat-woven. The beach towel is 39 by 71 inches and comes in 43 colorways, each packed into its own drawstring travel bag. Hand towels are cream with a colored band and hand-tied fringe, in two sizes and two weaves. Sets hold four beach towels with their bags, and one adds a bonus single towel. A single flat weave runs through everything.
With a thick pile towel, you carry bulk and wait for drying. A flat weave skips both. There is no pile to trap water or hold sand, so the cloth is thin and packs small. It dries quickly enough to avoid going musty in a bag. Sand rests on the surface and shakes off. The weave softens with use rather than matting down, the way a worn terry pile does.
Our flat-weave beach towel measures 39 by 71 inches and folds into a drawstring travel bag, about 11.5 inches tall and 4 inches across. Forty-three colorways, from single shades to seven multi-colored weaves. Some bags are plain, some printed. Sand shakes off the flat surface instead of working into a pile, and the towel dries fast enough to stay fresh in its bag.
Sold in pairs, these towels come in two weaves, diamond and herringbone, and two sizes: 15 by 26 inches and 16 by 40 inches. Each has a cream body, a colored band, and fringe tied by hand. They are pre-washed before they reach you, so shrinkage is minimal from the first use. The flat weave dries quickly, so the towel does not go musty.
Four beach towels, each packed in its own drawstring travel bag, make one straightforward set. The four-pack comes in five colorways, and every towel is the same 39 by 71 inch flat weave that shakes off sand and dries quickly. A separate bundle pairs four towels with a bonus single towel, all in one colorway, for a fuller drawer or a larger gift.
Six from the beach line and six from the hand towel line, all in stock at our last update. Every card buys from where it stands.
Our towels start with Turkish yarn spun for weaving rather than pile, and end with fringe knotted by hand. In between, the cloth is woven flat. Flat weave is what lets these towels pack small and dry fast, and sand shakes off in a moment. The quality lives in the cloth itself, not in anything added on top.
Our yarn is Turkish, spun for weaving rather than for pile. That distinction matters. Yarn made for terry holds a loop upright. Yarn made for flat weave lies down and behaves. Our cloth starts crisp, with a clean hand, and softens with each wash. It wears smooth and even, never matting flat or going shiny in patches.
Flat weave means no looped pile, no terry surface to hold water or sand. Both faces of the cloth are the same, so there is no wrong side. Sand lands on the surface and shakes off in a moment. Water moves through the weave quickly and dries out into the air. The cloth stays light and easy to handle.
On the hand towel line, the fringe is knotted by hand, one knot at a time, by women who work from home in the weaving district. It is patient work. The hand towels are pre-washed before they reach you, so shrinkage stays small from the first wash. The cloth settles into its size and stays there.
The beach towel folds into its own drawstring bag, about 11.5 inches tall and 4 inches across. That is small enough to live in a tote bag all summer, or to drop into a daypack on the way out the door. The towel inside is flat woven, so it compresses without bulk. Grab it and go.
These are our towels between washes, doing the things towels do. They sit in the sun on a lounger, fold into a basket, hang from a rail and a line, and pack down beside the gear you carry daily. The weave is flat cotton, so each one travels light and dries fast.
Our towels are woven in the Aegean weaving districts of western Türkiye, where flat cotton cloth has been made on shuttle looms for generations. The region's cloth carries a registered name of its own in Türkiye, a recognition of how long the weaving tradition has run there. This is the tradition our towels sit in. We don't point to a single village or a single loom. The craft is broader than that, and the cloth is better for it. What we can say plainly: the yarn is Turkish, the weaving is Turkish, and the people who do the work learned it the way it has been learned here for a long time.
How a color gets into the catalogue is a small, slow process. Before each season we order sample lengths of the weaves we are considering. The samples get washed and dried at home, the way a towel actually gets used. If a color fades or feels harsh after a few cycles, it does not go forward. The range stays narrow on purpose. We would rather offer forty-odd colors we trust than a hundred we half-believe in. That is the whole system. No labs, no panels. Just cloth, water, soap, and a bit of patience.
The name is Bay Laurel, after the laurel that grows along this same coast. The mark is a lemon and two laurel leaves. We chose it because the plant is common here, unshowy and hardy, and the towels are meant to be much the same way. A lemon and two leaves is a small, plain emblem, and it suits a small, plain brand. We don't need a grander symbol. The cloth, the coast, and the people who weave it carry the weight.
The cloth of this region carries a registered geographical name of its own in Türkiye, entered on the register in 2016. Source: Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Geographical Indications Portal: Buldan Bezi, registration no. 194 (read 17 August 2026).
Our towels are made of small, repeated motions. A thread pulled taut. A fringe tied and clipped. A sample washed, dried, and held up to the light. These are the people whose hands do that work, in the weaving districts of western Türkiye where cotton cloth has been made for generations. We think their habits are worth describing. Most of what we know about cloth comes from watching them.
The weaver runs a hand across the cloth as it comes off the loom, feeling for a pulled thread before the eye sees it. Flat weave is a fast cloth to make, so the attention is constant. One snapped thread and the fault runs the whole length before anyone notices.
At home, she holds each small bundle of warp threads, loops it once, and pulls the knot tight against her finger. The hand towels carry a band of color, and she matches the fringe to it without reaching for a chart. She ties until the pile beside her is even.
Before a color is approved, a sample goes home, through the wash, and onto the line. She takes it down while it is still damp and pulls it square by hand, measuring length and width against a rule she keeps on the table. She watches how the cloth settles, not how it looks.
A beach towel is 39 by 71 inches. Getting it into a bag about 11 inches tall takes a particular fold, and she has it down. She folds in thirds, rolls from the fringe end, and tucks the roll in with the drawstring loose. She matches each bag to its towel's color by eye.
Every beach towel asks you to trade something for something else. A thick cotton terry towel is warm and plush when you step out of the water. A microfiber quick-dry travel towel is the lightest and the fastest to dry, and it feels like microfiber. Our towel is flat-woven and thin, so it packs down small and dries quickly. Each beach towel wins at a different job. The table below lays out the trade-offs so you can pick the one that fits your day.
| Flat-woven Turkish towel | Cotton terry beach towel | Microfiber travel towel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packed size | Folds into a bag about 11.5 × 4 in | Bulky. A folded terry beach towel fills half a tote | Smallest of the three |
| Drying | Gives up water fast, no pile to hold it | Slowest. A thick pile stays damp for hours | Fastest, and it feels synthetic doing it |
| Sand | Sits on the surface and shakes off | Works down between the loops and stays | Sheds well, though grit clings to the nap |
| Over years of washing | Softens and stays flat | Thickens, then stiffens and goes patchy | Holds shape, can start to smell if stored damp |
| Out of a hot shower | Thin. Pleasant in summer, not in February | The warmest and plushest of the three | Efficient rather than comforting |
| Doubles as | Wrap, throw, picnic cloth, mat cover, blanket | Not really. It is a towel | Not really. It is a travel towel |
Compared on the things a beach bag actually cares about. The other two are better than this one at something, and the table says which.
The terry towel folds into a thick roll, the microfiber compresses into a slim pouch, and ours goes into a drawstring bag about the size of a water bottle.
Microfiber dries first, terry takes the longest, and ours dries quickly enough to avoid going musty in a bag.
Sand shakes off the flat weave, works its way into the terry pile, and clings to microfiber’s fine fibers.
Terry softens and fluffs up with washing, microfiber gets a worn look, and a flat-woven Turkish towel keeps its shape.
A thick terry towel doubles as a blanket, a microfiber towel as a thin scarf, and ours as a picnic spread or a wrap.
Every towel in our catalogue is covered by certificates you can look up yourself. We don't issue these documents, and we don't audit them. Independent bodies run the tests and review the processes. The certifications are theirs to award. The numbers below are public. Type one into the certifying organization's verification page and the certificate appears, with its current status. Here is what each one covers.
This certificate covers every component of the towel, thread and trim included. Each part is tested against a list of more than a thousand harmful substances. The certificate runs for one year and must be renewed. Limit values are reviewed at least once a year. Type the number 25.HTR.60267 into the OEKO-TEX label check page and you can see the certificate for yourself.
Certificate25.HTR.60267
This one verifies recycled content and documents where it comes from. A third party audits the chain of custody at every stage, from the recycled material through to the finished cloth. The standard also sets social and environmental requirements for the sites that process the material, with chemical limits included in the audit. So the certificate covers the people and the place, along with the yarn. Our certificate number is TE-00300633.
CertificateTE-00300633
This standard verifies recycled content and traces it through the chain of custody. It does not add the processing requirements that the Global Recycled Standard includes, so the claim is narrower by design. No percentage of recycled content is claimed here. The certificate records that recycled material is present and that its path through production is documented. Both certificates share the number TE-00300633.
CertificateTE-00300633
Verify for yourself: OEKO-TEX, Label Check (read 17 August 2026). What each standard covers: OEKO-TEX, STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX (read 17 August 2026), Textile Exchange, Recycled Claim Standard and Global Recycled Standard (read 17 August 2026).
A towel that dried on a hook in a small bathroom, a fringe that wanted its first-wash knots, a colour that softened the way good cotton does. Owners in their own words, three- and four-star voices included.
I purchased 4 of these for vacation. I have never owned a sandcloud or other name brand version of this towel to compare this to, but overall thought it was a really good beach towel. Compact, easily shakes out sand, and pretty absorbent (albeit less absorbent than a traditional beach towel).
I love these Turkish towels so much I went bought back and bought four more as well as several for gifts. They have been washed several times and are still extremely soft and sturdy. Very versatile, they have been used at the pool, lake and the beach and have experienced no fading of color or pilling.
It is lightweight and it does shed the sand. However, don't buy this as a towel that will dry you off. Between the sand and the thinness, you'll be "gritty" and not dry. If you are heading to the beach to sit on the sand and watch the sunset/sunrise, etc. It's fine. I will say the first one I received had a hole in it, but it was promptly exchanged for a new one. So, the customer service was great.
Love the color and the fabric is nice and lightweight. The tassels are a nice touch to add style. I have already ordered two more. Definitely a great find!! It dries so fast and is so easy just to carry with you down to the pool! The bag to carry it in is really nice and it makes it easy to grab and go. It’s a great size.
This towel was perfect for an outdoor concert. Lightweight but soft. I used it to sit on the seat to protect from the heat and keep me dry for the sweatiness. It came in handy as a cover up later. Dries quickly and the color is so boho! Love that it folded right into its own carrying bag. We had no problems going through security with it.
I love these towels. They are on the thin side but I like that they are thin because they are easy to carry in your bag. They do absorb well. Can be used as a light throw as well.
Great towel and love that it has the drawstring bag to keep it in.
I honestly liked these towels more than I expected. They are on the thinner side, but the weave is very tight, which makes them feel durable and high quality. They don’t feel cheap at all.
These towels are very pretty to use as display towels in my bathroom but if you’re looking for towels that are absorbent these are not those!
Not the best with absorption but beautiful and work well enough.
A flat-woven cotton towel is a simple thing. Two sets of threads, warp and weft, pressed together on a loom until the cloth is firm and smooth. No loops, no pile. The yarn does the work, drawing water into the weave the way a cotton shirt does, only denser. It is an old way of making cloth, and along the Aegean coast of Türkiye it never really stopped. Bay Laurel weaves this cloth today, in the same districts, with the same plain logic.
The region has woven cotton this way for generations. The climate helped. Cotton grew nearby, and the air was dry enough that a wet cloth hung on a line was dry by evening. The work happened on shuttle looms in small weaving districts where the skill passed from one set of hands to the next. The cloth also suited how people bathed. In the hammam, the public bath house, a bather wrapped in a flat-woven cloth and then handed it to the next person. Cloths were shared, not owned, so they had to dry fast between uses. A heavy terry towel would have stayed damp and sour. A flat weave let the water evaporate quickly, and when it was dry it folded flat into a small bundle you could carry under one arm. Nothing about it was decorative. It was practical cloth, shaped by a place and a routine.
The same cloth moved to the beach bag without changing much. That is the surprising part. When terry toweling took over in most of the world in the nineteenth century, the flat weave hung on in the eastern Mediterranean. It had a reason to. It dried quickly, so it did not go musty when rolled up. Sand shook off its surface instead of working into loops and traveling home with you. And it folded small, which mattered when your towel had to fit in a day bag next to a book and a water bottle. Terry had its comforts, but it was heavy when wet and slow to dry. The flat weave gave up softness and gained everything a beach day actually needs.
| Line | Size | Pack | Choice | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beach towel | 39 × 71 in | Single, with its own bag | 43 colorways | $15.95 |
| Hand and guest towel | 15 × 26 in and 16 × 40 in | Pack of two | 46 options | $8.99 |
| Four-pack set | 39 × 71 in each | Four, each with a bag | 5 colorways | $44.96 |
| Value bundle | 39 × 71 in each | Four plus a bonus single | 1 colorway | $58.95 |
The whole catalogue in four rows. Prices are the figures from our last update, 21 August 2026.
So the format survived. It was not a relic. It was a working answer to a different set of problems. The bath house needed cloth that dried between two people. The beach needed cloth that dried between two swims. Same weave, same reasoning, a different century.
Bay Laurel sits inside that tradition. The towels are woven in the Aegean weaving districts of western Türkiye, where the looms and the habits are still in place. The brand keeps the range narrow on purpose. There are a few weaves, a few sizes, and a set of colors that changes slowly. Before a new color is approved, someone from the brand orders a sample length, washes it at home, dries it, and lives with it for a while. A color can look fine on a skein and disappoint on a wet towel, so the samples get the same treatment a customer would give them. That is the whole quality system: a small team, a wash line, and time.
The range stays modest on purpose. The beach towel measures 39 by 71 inches, a size that covers a lounger and still folds into a drawstring bag about eleven and a half inches tall. It comes in 43 colorways. The hand towel is sold in pairs, in two weaves, diamond and herringbone, and two sizes. One fits the hand. The other works as a guest towel. The four-packs bundle four beach towels, each with its own bag, for the household or the group trip where everyone needs their own color to find their spot on the sand.
That is the whole catalogue. Three lines, kept narrow on purpose, with the room for variation spent on color instead.
With the weave settled and the size settled, color is what is left. The range runs from a single plain shade to weaves that carry several colors through the cloth at once. Some beach towels are one solid color. Others are striped, or woven so the color shifts as the light moves across the flat surface. The same honesty carries into the bags. A plain towel gets a bag that is sometimes plain, sometimes printed. A multi-colored towel usually gets a quiet bag. This is less a system than a habit: the bag should not fight the towel, and the towel should not promise more than it is.
The palette draws from the coast where the cloth is made: the green of laurel and the yellow of lemon rind. The blue of the Aegean at noon finds its way in as well. Other shades come from nowhere more specific. They are just colors that suit a beach towel. Some are quiet enough to disappear on a beach blanket. Others arrive with a printed bag that looks like something from a summer tablecloth. Both are useful, just in different moods.
For a buyer looking at 95 options, the decision is not about quality. Every towel in the catalogue is woven from Turkish yarn in the same districts and finished the same way: flat weave, fringe tied by hand. The quality is the given. The choice is about what a person wants to see on the sand or hanging from the bathroom hook. A plain shade recedes. A multi-colored weave asks for attention. Some people choose one towel for the beach and one for the pool. Some buy the four-pack so no one has to argue over whose is whose.
None of this is accidental, and none of it is complicated. The people who run Bay Laurel order sample lengths ahead of each season, wash and dry them at home, and approve a color only after seeing it in daylight. That is the whole design process. Slow and repetitive. That is the point.
Bay Laurel is trying to be the brand that makes the decision simple and the towel trustworthy. The catalogue is narrow because a wide one would be a distraction. The colors are many because color is the one part no one can decide for you. The towels dry fast and shake clean, and they fold away small, with a fringe tied by hand because some things should stay done slowly.
No promises about what comes next. The range is three lines, woven the same way. If the cloth holds up and the colors stay honest, that is enough.
Everything described above sits on Bay Laurel towels: the beach line, the hand towels and the sets are all one catalogue, and the shelves above are the way in.
Towels reward a longer look: how they are woven, how they behave at the beach, and what they become after years of use. The three pieces here each start from one observation about flat-woven cloth, and none of them is in a hurry.
No pile, no loops. The diamond and herringbone patterns are not decoration. They are the flat weave, and the fringe is knotted by hand. Understand the weave before you choose a size, because it decides how the towel dries and packs.
Pile towels bury the sand down in the loops. A flat weave has no such pockets, so the first shake carries most of it off. The piece follows a beach day in order and ends with what salt and sunscreen leave in the cloth.
Hand towels come pre-washed, so the first wash barely changes their size. The routine that follows is plain: wash, skip the softener, and mind the fringe tied by hand. The piece stays with the towel to the tenth year and what it becomes by then.
The beach towel measures 39 by 71 inches. Long enough for most people to stretch out on, and two people can share it if they do not mind a little contact. It is a flat weave, so it lies closer to the ground than a thick terry towel and takes up less room in your bag.
Yes. The towel has a flat weave with no pile, so sand sits on the surface rather than burying into loops. A couple of shakes and most of it is gone. Because the weave is smooth, you can also wipe sand away with your hand, which is handy when you are already wet.
It dries much faster than a thick terry towel. There is no pile to hold water, so the cloth is light and airy while it dries. That quick drying also keeps the towel from going musty when you pack it away damp in its bag.
Most towels do their shrinking in the first wash. Ours do it before they reach you. The hand towels are pre-washed, so shrinkage is minimal from first use. The size you buy is the size you keep, now and after washing. The first wash at home simply gets the towel into your laundry routine.
Both hand towels are flat-woven in the same cream body with a colored band and hand-tied fringe. The difference is the pattern. The diamond weave makes a small, repeating diamond shape. The herringbone weave makes the broken zigzag line you see in classic suiting cloth. Same towel, different face.
The 15 by 26 is the classic hand towel. It suits a bathroom sink, a guest bath, or a quick dry after washing up. The 16 by 40 is a longer cloth, closer to a small bath sheet, so it wraps around more and drapes nicely over a rail. Both are sold in packs of two.
OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 means the towel has been tested for a long list of harmful substances and found to be safe. The Global Recycled Standard and Recycled Claim Standard Blended certificates mean a verified portion of the yarn is recycled, and the claim is tracked back through production. The certificate numbers are printed on the label if you want to look them up.
Beach towels from $15.95, hand towels in pairs from $8.99, four-packs from $44.96. Every one of them buys in two clicks.
