What are Imabari towels and why do they matter to you?

A while ago i was thinking about what to buy with my furusato nouzei (if you’re not familiar with furusato nouzei, read more in my previous post here), and wondered, what luxury version of a household item would i normally not justify paying money for?

As you can guess by this post, i landed on towels.

Some history

A little history lesson courtesy of Ehime prefecture’s website - Imabari towels are made in the city of (surprise) Imabari in Ehime prefecture, located in Shikoku.

The city was traditionally a cotton growing region, but had to pivot in the Meiji era (post-1868) when cheaper foreign cotton imports disrupted their industry. They opted to highlight the quality of their cotton instead of compete on price, thus birthing the Imabari towel.

Some things i found interesting about Imabari towels

• There is a 80-20 split in imported vs domestically produced towels. Of the domestically produced 20%, Imabari towels comprise 60% of it. In other words, Imabari towels account for 12% of all towels in Japan. Imabari is the Big Towel of Japan.
• Imabari towels are not a brand, but a certification, graded on its absorptive capabilities. Not all towels produced in Imabari are Imabari towels. To be certified, a 1x1cm square of towel, placed in a body of water, must sink within 5 seconds. The towel is then washed 3 times, then put through the same test again. Passing both qualifies it for certification.
• There’s a towel sommelier program (!) where people take a test (!!) with a 52% passing rate (!!!) to become certified.

Imabari towels in the mise-en-scène (or, why are they special?)

Luxury hotels are luxury because small experiences trigger a sense of decadence. Plush room slippers that cradle your feet when you step in. Soft curtains that diffuse light just right to keep the room warm in the day and cozy at night. Marble countertops, round mirrors, metal finishes. Cove lighting on warm surfaces. Crisp bedsheets on a firm bed that engulf your skin.

I’m not a certified towel sommelier, but i think Imabari towels complete that scene. You know what a strange experience it is when your towel still feels dry even after wiping yourself down after a shower? It’s the kind of experience that would make you question your material understanding of the world.

How is this towel defying the law of physics?

Is this what rich people feel like all the time after they step out of the shower?

What other things do they buy that i don’t know about?

It’s the kind of thing you’ll invariably fail to appreciate until you’ve actually experienced it, à la your parents telling you “you’ll know when you’re older” when they get tired of trying to explain something to you.

I think it’s special because it’s a piece of craftsmanship that, while potentially expensive, is still relatively affordable and can be a piece of joy in your daily life.

Affordable?

I bought this with furusato nouzei (again, refer to my previous post for a refresher if needed) so it was free (technically speaking, in my head, if you ignore all the money i gave to the government in taxes), but here’s the prices attached.

I bought these towels from Rakuten, through furusato nouzei, for JPY18,000.

That's 2 towels for JPY18,000, which works out to JPY9,000 per towel.

The retail equivalent appears to be this listing, which is currently JPY4,360, or JPY2,180 per towel.

Is this cheap? Probably not. I'm fairly certain you could get much cheaper options if you looked for it.

But is this expensive? I have no idea. I've never wandered the towel aisles in upscale department stores to take stock of how the upper class values a common commodity like towels.

But is it affordable? I'd say so! At JPY2,180, for the tactile enjoyment in something i use daily, i'd say it's worth the money.

Should they matter to you?

That depends. How much value do you ascribe to things that bring material enjoyment to your life?

I've spent much of my life subscribed to the financial philosophy of, get the cheapest possible option that doesn't immediately disintegrate when i use it (an exception to this philosophy in my life, strangely, is bags, where i've somehow adopted a buy-it-for-life approach.)

So i find it hard to describe just how strange i found this elevated ordinary experience. I needed to reconcile that the value of what i've always thought of as an ordinary everyday item goes beyond its functionality. Kind of like viewing a 4th dimension with your eyes for the first time.

I want to aspire to bring as many things that provide material enjoyment into my home and life. As a result i buy towels that require certification and qualified sommeliers.

As a quality-of-life decision, it sits in the low-investment-high-upside quadrant. Maybe next time you're looking for a regular item in your daily life - like a towel - consider the fancier one. It just might surprise you.