Personalised Towels in Bulk: A UK Buyer's Guide
By The Velocity Wear Team
Personalised towels get around thirty-six hundred searches a month in the UK. A lot of that is people after a single gift towel with a name on it. This guide is for the other buyers: gyms, spas, hotels, salons, holiday lets, golf clubs and businesses ordering fifty, a hundred or a thousand towels with their name stitched in. For them, the details that matter are quite different from a gift shop's.
Start with how the towel will be used
A gym towel is grabbed, sweated into and washed hot every day. A spa towel needs to feel indulgent against skin. A hotel bath sheet needs to look crisp and white after its hundredth wash. A corporate gift towel needs to look beautiful in its packaging. Tell your supplier which of these you are, because it changes the weight, the size and the branding you should choose.
Sizes
Our towels come in five stock sizes, all 100% combed cotton:
- Gym: 30 × 80 cm, 450 GSM. Slim enough to drape over a shoulder or a bench.
- Face: 40 × 60 cm, 450 GSM. Treatment rooms, washbasins, salons.
- Hand: 45 × 75 cm, 500 GSM. Guest bathrooms, spas, barbers.
- Bath: 70 × 140 cm, 550 GSM. Hotels, holiday lets, gyms with showers.
- Bath sheet: 90 × 180 cm, 650 GSM. Luxury hotels, spas, pool and beach use.
What GSM actually means for a towel
GSM is the weight of the towel fabric per square metre. Higher GSM means more cotton loops, which feels thicker, softer and more absorbent, but also takes longer to dry and costs more to launder. Lighter towels dry faster, which suits gyms. Heavier towels feel luxurious, which suits spas and hotels. There's more in our towel cotton and weave explainer.
How towels are personalised
- Embroidery: your logo, name or monogram stitched into the towel. Classic, durable, premium.
- Woven labels: a small branded label sewn into the hem. Subtle and very hotel.
- Dobby borders: a woven band across the towel that gives a smart, finished look and a natural spot for a logo.
We don't print photos or full-colour artwork onto cotton towels. Terry loops don't hold detailed prints well, and embroidery simply looks better and lasts longer on this fabric.
Colours
White is the hospitality standard because it can be washed hot and looks clean. Colours are reactive-dyed so they stay true through normal washing, and there are more than twenty colourways to choose from. Darker colours suit gyms and salons where make-up, fake tan or product would mark white towels.
Laundering matters as much as quality
Most towel problems are laundry problems. Too much detergent makes towels stiff. Fabric softener coats the fibres and kills absorbency. Very high heat drying damages cotton over time. If you use a commercial laundry, share your towel spec with them and ask what programme they'll use.
The minimum order and pricing
Towels are woven rather than cut and sewn, so the minimum is 50 pieces per design, higher than our 20-piece apparel minimum. Prices include branding and are set per size. As a guide, the gym size starts at £4.50, the hand towel at £6.50 and the bath towel at £8. See wholesale towels for current pricing.
Quick checklist before you order
- Which size and GSM suit the use?
- White or colour, and will it face bleach, tan or make-up?
- Embroidery, woven label or dobby border?
- Where does the logo go, and how big?
- How many towels per room, member or station, plus spares for laundry rotation?
- Who's laundering them, and on what programme?
Timing
Production takes 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, plus delivery. If you're refitting a hotel or opening a gym, order well ahead of the date. Request a sample if you'd like to feel the weight first.
