Caring for your towels: our top tips for thick & thirsty towels!

We've put together our top tips for keeping your Eureco bamboo towels looking and feeling snuggle-icious!

Tips for brand new towels:

* We recommend that you wash your towels 3 times in plain warm water before use. All new towels will shed a little excess fibre at first and we think there's nothing more annoying than towel fluff sticking to you when you're just out of the shower! A few initial washes will eliminate this problem and leave your towels ready for service.

* Brand new towels will typically shrink a little upon initial washing. That might seem like a bad thing, but actually, the small amount of shrinkage that occurs during washing serves to tighten the towel's weave structure and will bind the terry loops more firmly into the cloth making your towels stronger, more durable and ready for service. Nifty eh?

* Sometimes snags (or slight pulls) can appear in new towels that have not yet been washed (because the weave has not yet tightened up). If you notice a pull or two in your towel, don't panic. Simply use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the snag off at the level of the pile. The towel will not ladder (run) or unravel.

Tips once towels are in regular use:

Washing:

When you're using and washing your towels on a regular basis, make sure the light and dark items are washed seperately. We always suggest that towels are washed with other towels or with other fluffy items like socks or tracksuit pants etc. We like to avoid washing our towels with our lovely black work pants...

Also, we know you want to save water but please don’t overload your machine when you're washing your Eureco towels. The excessive abrasion and agitation will cause the towel fibres to break down and this will reduce the durability and longevity of your lovely towels.

Soaps, detergents and additives:

There are lots of super-dooper washing detergents and fabric softeners on the market to 'transform' your washing into bright whiteness with every wash - but Eureco says no! Please do not use chlorine bleach, bluing agents or optic whiteners as these may alter or remove colour and can weaken fibres. A basic detergent will do.

Expert Tip: To help keep your towels extra soft (depending on the amount of soiling of course) try using only half the amount of detergent recommended by the manufacturer.

Make sure your detergent is added to the load as the washer fills, instead of pouring it directly onto the bamboo towels. This will avoid damage to the fabric and prevent a detergent build up which can reduce softness.

Expert Tip: Don't use fabric softener with your towels! Did you know that fabric softener acts in a similar way to hair conditioner? It coats the fibre and leaves it smooth, but ultimately it clogs up all the little gaps and micro-holes in the fibre that make it so absorbent!

Those in the know here at Eureco get very cranky with all those fabric softener TV commercials depicting lovely soft towels being hung on the line, or super cute kids snuggling into their snuggly towels and robes and thanking mum for using fabric softener! Don't be fooled - it's a misnomer! Keep your towels thick and thirsty by avoiding fabric softener.

Drying:

After washing, remove your towels from the machine promptly and give them a shake to help reduce wrinkling. We urge you to use nature's energy and line dry your towels, but if you absolutely have to use a dryer then a medium heat setting will be best.

Expert Tip: If you absolutely have to use a tumble dryer, be patient and avoid using a hot setting. The hot setting will burn the fibres, will cause them to start to break down, will cause excess linting and will ultimately reduce the durability and longevity of your towels.

Ironing: for OCD types (an the occassional photoshoot stylist)

At Eureco, we don't discriminate. If you really are inclined to iron your towels, please go for it! They are best ironed when still damp on a medium (cotton) setting.

Storage:

If you need to pack your bamboo towels away for a while, they should be stored in a cool, dry, well aerated place. We recommend storing towels in old cotton pillow cases, as storing them in plastic bags or boxes may cause yellowing over time. We also think reusing old pillowcases is cool.

Snags or Pulls:

If you notice a snag or two over the life of your towel, simply use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the snag off at the level of the pile.

Expert Tip: Looking over your old towels and snipping off any sneaky snags that have occured over time is a great way to reinvigorate your old towels and get them looking their best again!

Dry Cleaning:

Last of all, whatever you do, please DO NOT DRY-CLEAN your bamboo towels.

So there you have it, our top tips for caring for your lovely towels and keeping them soft, absorbent and long lasting!

Name our puppy and WIN!

Taronga Zoo has their baby elephant, Dubbo Zoo have their baby rhino, Eureco have their adopted eco pet!



So this puppy wandered into our inbox from the world of cyberspace and we have since adopted her as our company eco pet. Not only does she look like a towel when she is scrunched up on the floor, but she is also very cute.

Our puppy needs a name and we need your help! Our ideas are so bad that we are desperate for your input! (Frances suggested "Dobby the Doggy" - Seriously!) Please help!

The winning entrant with the best suggestion will win one of our luxury towel bundles (pictured) including 2 bath towels, 1 hand towel and 1 face washer worth $184! Get naming now!


Be as creative as you like, maybe something to do with towels or something eco or just something cool. Please let us know your naming ideas by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. Don't forget to leave your email address so we can contact you!


Competition closes Thursday 20th May 4pm AEST. Colour of products shown in picture may vary in prize pack.

It's my birthday... and I'll cry if I want to!

Ok, so the heading is a little misleading, but it was definitely a possibility yesterday as Frances officially got another year older. Happy Birthday!

Being a twin, meant that she was not only celebrating her birthday but also her brother's! Being disorganised (Frances says 'busy' but we know the truth..) meant last minute present shopping- thank God for hardware stores and gift vouchers!

I have heard reports that there was much cake eating and present exchanging and apparently no tears.

More cake to be had in the office! Thanks Phil.

The new organic cotton collection is officially on its way, ETA: May! Of course we will keep you posted. After deciding on the colour story last week and taking photos for our blog entry, Frances sneakily added an extra colour to the mix - a lovely blue, which should be very popular!

Far away on the Eureco horizon is the Organic Expo, held in Sydney in August. We have just secured our spot and are already super excited. We had a sneak peek at the exhibitors and there are going to be lots of cool people there. (I'm especially excited about the farm animals! But Frances would like me to mention that she is more excited about the organic chocolate, and meeting lots of new people.)

This popped into our inbox and we've claimed her as our mascot/office Eco-pet!

Don't leave your towels lying around!

- Words by Megan (who is banned from office chocolate from now on)

The Story of Stuff

We came across this video recently and thought it was worth sharing with you! It's 20 minutes you won't regret!

Tell me a colour story...

One of the most fun parts of my job is creating the ‘colour-story’ for each collection, which essentially just means deciding what colours we want to release.

You might be surprised at just how much thought goes into creating our colour-stories. As I’m currently putting together the colour-story for our new Organic Cotton collection (COMING SOON), I thought I’d blog about it to give you a bit of an insight into the process.

HANG ON, WHAT’S WITH THE JARGON? WHY DO YOU CALL IT A ‘COLOUR-STORY’?

Well, just like any story you might read, our collections of colours are carefully crafted and have a beginning, a middle, an end, a climax and sometimes an unexpected twist! A simple colour can set a mood, transform a space, or transport you on a journey of the senses!

BUDGET – First things first.

Launching a new collection can require a significant investment of capital. I always work to a budget and this will often dictate (and sometimes limit) the number of different colours I can include.

SALES –

Of course, I want to make sure I include colours that I know will be popular and will sell well. Naturally, sales are a primary concern for any business and for each colour I have to ask “will it sell?”
The answer to that question is often 50% experience and 50% instinct. There are staple colours or tones that are always popular (neutral tones typically do well) but I don’t want my collections to only include neutral tones because that would be boring! So what factors influence the other colours?

TRENDS –

Yes, I’m always looking ahead to find out what colours and tones are being forecast as major home ware trends. Incorporating ‘on-trend’ colours is one of the key ways we differentiate our eco-collections. Being forced to compromise on style in order to adhere to our sustainability ideals is just so unnecessary!

We frequently review our collections and introduce new colours as trends develop.

THE EXISTING MARKET –

I don’t like to pay too much attention to the competition, but I always give some thought to what exists in the market place currently. What’s our unique value proposition? What makes our collection unique, better, best? Careful consideration of colours can distinguish our collections as superior to competing collections. I always bear this in mind.

MEDIA & MARKETING –

Of course the media is always looking for products that are ‘of the moment’. Including vibrant, quirky or exciting trend-driven colours can often be a good way of attracting the attention of the media and garnering publicity.

I often bear this in mind when creating a story and deliberately include a colour or two that I think is likely to be picked up by stylists.

GEOGRAPHY –

Incredibly, certain colours can sell well in some areas, but not at all in others! For example, (and it’s a cliché, but it’s true) in Australia, the Victorians tend to favour more subdued or neutral tones in their homes, whereas the Queenslanders very often favour our more vibrant hues.

I like to make sure I have colours that will likely appeal to both ends of that spectrum. Something for everyone.

OVERALL COHERENCE & SUB-STORIES –

It is important that the range of colours within the collection make sense together.

I always work to include colour sub-stories or to ensure that the colours work well together when co-ordinated in all kinds of different ways.

This makes it easy for our customers to choose colours to combine in their homes. It also makes it easy for our retailers to choose a selection of colours that they wish to stock in their stores (space or budgetary constraints mean that sometimes our retailers can’t take on our full range of colours).

FUN –

I like to have fun with the process. I experiment and have draft combinations that I live with for a few days and revisit and rethink.

I don’t like to play it safe and I often include ‘high-risk’ colours that may or may not sell, but that speak to a cheekiness or irreverence in me. Sometimes it’s precisely those colours that end up being a HIT!

It’s important to have fun.

So there you have it, the low down on the creation of our colour-stories!

Frances.