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Original poster

How old is your eldest towel?

233 replies

fairyfluf · 09/09/2023 20:44

Mine is 20 years! Is that really bad? I'm wondering if it's actually really unhygienic but I wash towels regularly.

OP posts:
Footprintsinthesand · 09/09/2023 21:26

God knows. I have one that my DM gave me when I moved out 20 years ago...and it was one of her old ones

Hairballing · 09/09/2023 21:27

7 years to 10 years but they look awful and some have developed holes

FofB · 09/09/2023 21:27

OH worked in a hotel 24 years ago. They had some very large white bath towels which were very posh- there were some with little marks on so couldn't go into the rooms and so given to the staff.

They had a bleach soak, the stains came out and are still going strong. They are my teenagers favourite towels!

RandomMess · 09/09/2023 21:28

I reckon 40 years, I remember it in the house as a child it must have ended up at uni with me.

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 09/09/2023 21:28

Oldest ones are about 30... Still good though.

Cooperativebox · 09/09/2023 21:32

Also 20 years. Two identical towels I bought at the same time. Interestingly one is fraying at the edges, and one is not.

littlefireseverywhere · 09/09/2023 21:32

not towels but iv got pillowcases 45 years old

Reduxrabbit · 09/09/2023 21:33

At least 50. I was a club swimmer so can date it pretty accurately.

Bellyblueboy · 09/09/2023 21:34

Probably about ten years old.

iamthattree · 09/09/2023 21:35

58 I think. My mum had it when she went to uni and it still has her name tape in her maiden name. She's 76 now.

I took it to uni as it was a spare and so didn't matter if it got trashed/lost/covered in hair dye. It's been with me ever since. We tend to use it for beach/swimming/emergency now as it's a bit thin.

sanityisamyth · 09/09/2023 21:35

22 years - my dad bought it for me when I went to uni. It's my swimming towel as it's a bit threadbare in places but it does the job!

cuckyplunt · 09/09/2023 21:35

The beach towels are 18 years this summer. Tinker bell and Marie from the aristocats, the girls still use them on holiday.

ThreeBearsPorridge · 09/09/2023 21:36

Thirty odd years .

LBOCS2 · 09/09/2023 21:37

Until fairly recently my oldest towel was a purple one I took to uni with me, twenty years ago.

Except I recently went to DSis's house and found my monogrammed towel I'd had since I was a child which she was using as a hand towel so obviously I stole it back took ownership of it again. That one is at least 30 years old, possibly 35.

NeedTheSeaside · 09/09/2023 21:37

SpanishSummer · 09/09/2023 20:52

I am always horrified when I see articles like the one below. So bad for the environment to encourage people to replace all towels after 2 years. My oldest were bought for my first house 20 years ago.

https://www.online-bedrooms.co.uk/be-inspired/germ-free-homes-how-often-to-replace-household-items/

@SpanishSummer I agree. It's been a while since I've seen anything SO ridiculous!!!

@fairyfluf

30 years, still in circulation.

A couple from when I was a baby, but not really used (54 years)

I'm very fussy about bloody everything towels. I think old beach towels & cannot stand fluffy thick new towels.

Privatelyliving · 09/09/2023 21:39

I've got some that my gran gave me when I set up my first home 31 years ago and they were 2nd hand then. Nothing you buy now lasts like things did then, even if you spend ££££

Of course they're not unhygienic if they're washed.

User8743 · 09/09/2023 21:41

I still have towels with a number label from when I had to spend three months in a rehab-hospital when I was 14 .

Escapingtherealityoflife · 09/09/2023 21:43

Wedding presents 25 years ago. Good old M&S.
Still fluffy.
once a year they get a boil wash followed by a blast on the line on a really windy day which seems to rejuvenate them.

GreyDuck · 09/09/2023 21:48

My everyday towels are spring chickens, only 18 years old. I'm surprised I don't have any older - I'm wearing a 25 year old t-shirt right now.

djivdfj · 09/09/2023 21:50

lottiegarbanzo · 09/09/2023 20:46

53

I've never thought of myself as the same age as a towel before. My mind has opened!

Ifonlyiweretaller · 09/09/2023 21:50

I have a 42 year old M&S beach towel ...loved it then ( thought I was the bees knees buying something from M&S) and sill use it now although s little tired looking these days ...

fiddlesticksandotherwords · 09/09/2023 21:50

I've got several towels over 30 years old and my oldest tea towel is 40. One or two of my dusters were DM's and they are probably 60+ and still going strong.

starfishmummy · 09/09/2023 21:51

DH and I got loads as wedding gifts 28 years ago to add to the ones from our respective single homes. There are wedding ones some we have never used! (White with gold cherubs anyone....)

magicstar1 · 09/09/2023 21:52

When I moved out of home in 1997 my mother gave me a couple of her old towels, so I’ve had them 26 years and they were about ten years old already.

Findyourneutralspace · 09/09/2023 21:52

I’ve got one my gran gave me and she died in 1995, so it must be a good 30 years old, could be closer to 40. It’s still in good condition.