For months, social media users have asked the same question: What, exactly, is the purpose of those woven strips on towels?
The inquiry has spread on platforms including X, Reddit and Facebook since at least March 2025. Several posts included a picture with the claim, “Most people will go their entire life without ever knowing what the lines on bath towels actually mean.”
Social media users have answered the question with various jokes or theories. Posts with tens of thousands of likes suggested the woven strips help towels dry faster, make them easier to grip or improve their hold when they are pinned to clotheslines. Some posts insisted that the woven strip is called a “dobby weave” or “dobby border” and that it prevents fraying or other issues with a towel’s structure.
It turns out the answer may be all of the above — at least according to towel wholesalers and textile experts. “Known as a dobby border, this woven strip helps prevent fraying, improves absorbency, and gives towels a professional, polished look,” Towel Hub wrote in a March 11, 2025, blog post. The towel manufacturer also said the design feature improves grip and increases the speed at which a towel dries.
“The woven strip helps maintain an even structure, preventing the edges from becoming too bulky,” Towel Hub’s blog post said. The strip keeps the towel lighter and speeds up drying by ensuring “moisture is evenly distributed throughout the towel’s surface.”
Whitney Crutchfield, a Fashion Institute of Technology professor who specializes in textiles, said via email the flat woven section is called a “dobby weave” because it is usually characteristic of the types of fabric that can be woven on a dobby loom, a type of weaving loom.
Crutchfield also said the dobby weave is a better “canvas” for decoration and branding compared to the rest of a towel, which can obscure detailing.
Towels with woven strips are also easier to handle when “drying off, folding or stacking” and less likely to stretch compared to towels without the feature, according to the Towel Hub post. The so-called dobby border is particularly important for businesses that use towels frequently and intensely, such as hotels or gyms, and clean them via industrial washing machines and heavy-duty detergents.
As for the X user’s complaint about shrinking, the towel wholesaler wrote:
Not all dobby borders are created equal. A well-made woven strip should be tightly stitched and seamlessly integrated into the towel’s design. Loose or thin strips can weaken over time, diminishing the towel’s durability and overall lifespan.
A blog post by Direct Textile Store in 2018 said there are actually two different types of woven strips: “dobby borders” and “cam borders.” The latter are less decorative — “just a straight line across, generally less than an inch thick, with no specific patterns or designs.” However, both are used for similar reasons, according to the post.
Towel Hub, Direct Textile Store and other towel manufacturers did not return inquiries about the woven strip’s purpose as of this writing. We will update this story if they do.
Rae Deng
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