While we’re talking about towels, is there any reason why almost all towels have a narrow band of non-towelling material a few inches from one end. Sometimes it’s fancied up with a bit of embroidery or something, in which case I can see the purpose might be purely decorative, but usually it’s just a section of plain old fabric, like the ones in this image.
What’s it for? Is it just one of those design things that has stuck, because “that’s what towels look like”? Or is there some practical reason for it? 
Yes, I have always wondered that myself. They all have like a 1 inch to 3 inch strip that is woven instead of having terry cloth loops.
I hate them because after some of my towels come out of the dryer, that part has shrunk more than the rest of the towel, and I have to stretch it out so I can fold the towels nicely. I also hate it because it’s useless space on the towel that has no absorbing capability.
Good question, and I don’t know the answer.
But in the interest of turniing a ?? into a positive, I use this part of the fabric to have my relative’s monograms embroidered into it.
The towels are pretty cheap, and I have sets for all the relatives, and do hang them in the guest bathroom. when they visit. It has been well-received, to date.
It’s probably so the terry doesn’t unravel. I don’t think there is any good way to bind off terry, so the ends are sealed with fabric.
Well, with the inverse-mohawk along each end you can tell at-a-glance which edge of the towel is which. I always hang a towel over the rod (the curtain rod) when I take a shower. When I’m standing there, water and shampoo streaming down my face, I need to know just how much I can pull that towel to dry my eyes without pulling it all the way over and dropping it.
Well, with the inverse-mohawk along each end you can tell at-a-glance which edge of the towel is which. I always hang a towel over the rod (the curtain rod) when I take a shower. When I’m standing there, water and shampoo streaming down my face, I need to know just how much I can pull that towel to dry my eyes without pulling it all the way over and dropping it.
I don’t mean the fabric strip right around the edge of the towel, which is there for precisely that reason. I mean the narrow section of towel about three or four inches from one end, which is just thin woven fabric rather than proper towel material.
E.g. the bit just below the badge here, and also visible on all these, or, I’ll bet, on the towel hanging up in your bathroom. It just seems pointless, but almost all towels have it – except most beach towels, for some reason.
