When we started selling bamboo towels more than a decade ago, there weren’t many brands to choose from. Back then, in 2006, BAMBU BATU was still the only all-bamboo boutique in California. But we were determined to stock our shelves with some incredible bath towels, at a time when no one had even heard of bamboo towels.

We took our chances and ordered a case of 60/40 bamboo-cotton blended towels, made in India, from a now-defunct company with a major distribution center on the East Coast. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but one thing is certain, those towels exceeded even our greatest expectations: as soft as cashmere, amazingly absorbent, odor-resistant, and built to last. When the company discontinued the towels a year later we were absolutely devastated. Not only did we love the towels more than anything, but they were far and away the best selling line in the store. Apparently, BAMBU BATU’s small-scale success was not enough to keep the multi-national factories running.

After that heartbreak, it took us years to find a comparable replacement that lived up to that same level of quality, softness, absorbency, and durability. Those towels had opened our eyes to a whole new world of post-bath luxury, and the genie would NOT go back in the bottle. So we dabbled in a dozen or more different brands of bamboo towels, ordering samples from all corners of the globe.

Our Quest for the Best Bamboo

We washed, we dried, we daubed, we shimmied. But we were not about to settle for anything less than the very best. Eventually, we came up with a winner, and those are the towels we proudly sold for many years in our San Luis Obispo brick-n-mortar shop. Now you can order them online from our partners at Sleep Bamboo. 

Our exhaustive research led us to many brands of bamboo towels, and a tremendous range in quality. Some towels were exceptionally soft but just didn’t seem very absorbent. Others were just too easy to snag on jewelry, on fingernails, or in the dryer. And some just didn’t seem to have the softness or the fluffiness that we’d come to count on from a great bamboo towel. 

All in all, the realm of bamboo towels is a wonderful and luxurious world to explore. So it’s a been a marvelous experience and a great learning process. And now I’d like to pass along some of that bamboo knowledge, with this quick tour through some of the leading brands of bamboo towels. By the way, if you find this article helpful, you might also want to read our study on the best bamboo sheets.

NOTE: To make shopping even easier, we’ve included some affiliate links in this article.

Top Bamboo Towel Choices:

1. Daisy House Bamboo Towels

Amid the forest of bamboo companies, it’s not easy to narrow it down to just one superior choice. So what makes Daisy House number one on our list? We love these towels for a lot of reasons. Most of all, they accentuate all the characteristics that make bamboo towels great: super soft, super fluffy, and super absorbent. Made in Turkey from a blend of cotton and bamboo, they also hold up very well over time.

In addition to these essential traits, Daisy House towels come in an astonishing variety of colors. Last time I checked there were 27 to choose from. Maybe your bathroom is hot pink with flamingo wallpaper, or perhaps you’re trying to match the aquamarine tiles you picked up on your last trip to Mexico. Or do you prefer to go au natural? No matter what, they’ve got you covered. And we’re not the only ones ranking them number one; the Wall Street Journal also rated them the best overall towel.

Go here to shop for Daisy House Bamboo Towels.

Furthermore, Daisy House is a small, family-owned company, with excellent, friendly customer service. In an age of automated everything and corporate conglomerates, it means a lot to me when I can purchase my sustainable bamboo products from real humans with souls and voices.

2. Caribbean

In my experience, and as much as I love the bamboo, I have to say that I generally prefer the towels that are made from a blend of bamboo and cotton. It’s like they somehow give you the best of both worlds. But if you absolutely must have 100% bamboo, then Caribbean is the way to go.

These guys are real purists. They use nothing but 100% organic bamboo. And they donate a portion of their profits to UNICEF for children. So there’s a lot to love about these towels. Maybe they’re not as thick and fluffy as some of the bamboo-cotton blended towels, but their light weight and silky softness make them ideal for babies and children.

The only downside here is that you won’t find a tremendous selection of colors. Being such purists, they only use un-dyed bamboo, so all their towels are white. But if you’re looking for 100% unadulterated organic bamboo towels from a company that really cares about helping children around the world, then Caribbean is your best choice. You can purchase their bath towels individually, but the price drops significantly if you buy them in sets of 6 or 12.

3. Murphy Bamboo

Murphy offers a line of luxurious bath towels made from 70% bamboo and 30% cotton. The ribbed terry fabric gives these deluxe towels an extra air of plush softness. There’s no doubt, these are some wonderfully soft, fluffy and absorbent towels. Personally, I’m a big fan of ribbed towels, so that’s a plus for me, but some people might prefer a more uniform texture. The only other downside is the lack of color selection. Murphy Bamboo Towels are currently only available in white.

4. Cariloha

This company sprouted up out of nowhere about ten years ago and dominated the internet virtually overnight. Cariloha’s online presence makes them impossible to ignore, but they also deliver a very high-quality product. 

As with any great bamboo towel worth mentioning, these are extra super cushy. Cariloha uses a 50-50 blend of bamboo and Turkish cotton to produce a great towel that’s exceptionally soft, fluffy, and absorbent. They also offer a beautiful selection of colors, which can be helpful if you’re trying to match a specific bathroom decor. Your best option is probably Cariloha’s bamboo 3-piece towel set, which includes a generously sized bath towel, a hand towel, and a washcloth.

5. Chakir Turkish Linens

Here’s another excellent line of luxuriously soft towels made from a blend of 65% Turkish cotton and 35% bamboo. Chakir bamboo towels are comparable to Daisy House and Cariloha in price and quality, remarkably soft, thick, fluffy and absorbent. They are also available in several colors. 

UPDATE: We’ve occasionally seen these towels sold out on Amazon, but as of fall 2021, they were back in stock. Seems that these towels sell out quickly, so move fast! Visit Amazon to check on current pricing and availability.

6. Brooklyn Bamboo

This company offers a luxurious 3-piece set of 100% bamboo bath towels, with all the fabulous qualities of softness and absorbency that make bamboo towels such a wonderful choice. The woven jacquard pattern adds an extra touch of elegance. Brooklyn Bamboo also carries a variety of bamboo towel sets for babies.

Keep in mind, with the 100% bamboo, these towels are not going to be as thick and fluffy as some of the bamboo-cotton blends like Daisy House. Also, Brooklyn Bamboo Towels are only available in a couple of colors, gray and off-white.

7. Bamboosa

Looking for a good family feeling and an American-made towel, look no further than Bamboosa of Los Angeles, California, originally from South Carolina. This family-owned and operated company is a true pioneer in the bamboo field. Since around 2004, they have been committed to providing the most environmentally responsible and ethically produced bamboo products imaginable, while creating jobs and opportunities right here in America. 

Bamboosa’s towels are made from a blend of 80% organic bamboo and 20% recycled polyester. They are incredibly soft and absorbent, and so far as we know, the only bamboo towels being manufactured in the USA. 

As a small mom-n-pop enterprise, however, their availability is sometimes rather limited. Currently, they have a bamboo gym towel and some bamboo baby towel sets in stock.  Visit their website to order and to check availability.

8. Marmaris Co.

Marmaris Co. offers a competitively priced bamboo towel set, made in Turkey with 70% bamboo and 30% Turkish cotton. The 3-piece set includes a 36 x 58 bath towel, 18 x 36 hand towel, and a 12 x 20 face towel. They also have an attractive band that wraps around the towel with a bamboo motif embroidery.

The decorative embroidery on these towels is very attractive, but over time, I sometimes have issues with that part of the towel losing some shape or shrinking differently than the body of the towel. They come in eight colors, which is a reasonable selection, better than Brooklyn Bamboo, but no match for Daisy House. For the price, however, they are a great value.

Conclusions

The benefits of bamboo as a textile go on and on. It is one of the fastest-growing and renewable plants on earth, and its versatility is unparalleled. Fabric made from bamboo plants has also proven to be hypo-allergic, anti-microbial, and odor-resistant, making it an excellent material for products like t-shirts, socks, underwear, and more.

With such softness and absorbency, bamboo is also an ideal material for towels. But not all bamboo towels are created equally. And in my experience, some varieties of bamboo fabric seem to harness that softness and absorbency better than others. For instance, the bamboo-cotton blends appear to make the best towels — fluffier and more absorbent than the 100% bamboo towels that I’ve used. Even so, there is something appealing about a towel made from nothing but bamboo.

In assessing these towels, we also take into consideration the philosophy and spirit of our bamboo-producing colleagues. As a family-owned business founded on a commitment to environmental awareness and social responsibility, we care about a lot more than just the bottom line. Therefore, we like to promote and do business with other like-minded companies. And so, for all of these reasons, we’ve chosen Daisy House as number one and named Caribbean a close second.

Whatever bamboo towel you choose, we wish you all the best in your bathing, drying, and bamboo swaddling!  

Further reading and FAQs

To learn more about bamboo and bamboo textiles, and to answer some of the most commonly asked questions, check out these other informative articles.

• How to wash and care for bamboo clothing
• Washing instructions for bamboo sheets
• Oeko-Tex Certification for bamboo fabrics
• Why is bamboo more expensive
• Why I like bamboo better than cotton