Shinto Towel
JAPAN
Incredibly soft and absorbent towels made slowly by skilled craftspeople in Osaka Japan
Over one hundred years of knowledge and technical experience,
combined with innovation and creativity.
The reason why we keep on using old looms is not to preserve our old and familiar style of manufacturing, but to keep on trying to create something new and unique. One of the essential parts of manufacturing of SHINTO TOWEL is our discontinued looms such as shuttle looms and rapier looms.
Sometimes we see expressions like “high quality towel because it’s made by old looms”, but for me it sounds not quite right. It is true actually in one aspect, but the basic mechanism and manufacturing method is the same between new looms and old looms. It might sound kind of convincing when I just say “We can weave INNER PILE and 2.5-PLY GAUZE only by our old looms”, but more accurately speaking that’s because old looms are more suitable for our artisans to fully exert their craftsmanship.
Also, even if some other company had the same old shuttle looms as ours, I can definitely say that they cannot manage to weave INNER PILE. The same loom should be able to weave the same towel, but the true originality of SHINTO TOWEL is the craftsmanship and the routine of our artisans cultivated by their history of experiences that manage to maintain and keep our half-century old looms still active to create something new and unique.
Inspiration and challenging spirit of artisans are the originality of SHINTO TOWEL.
The looms have been progressively developed to manage higher-speed operation and mass production. That’s fantastic in its own way. Easier to operate and raises the cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, the latest looms are very precise and fixed thus sometimes inflexible to add a little change to its mechanism. Matured artisans in SHINTO TOWEL say that there is no room for their trial and effort in the latest looms. They mean that old looms have quite a lot of flexibility to adjust and customise so that they can try and confirm their new ideas and inspirations.
Our INNER PILE and 2.5-PLY GAUZE were created through challenges of our artisans. It’s true that it’s not very efficient and we have trouble sourcing broken parts. But I still, even if I had to invest some in newly manufacturing those discontinued parts, want to keep using those old looms. This is what I think is one way of showing my respect to our artisans and keeping the backbone of SHINTO TOWEL.
The INNER PILE towel by SHINTO TOWEL
Voluminous but soft.
A towel combining the best of gauze and pile.
Traditional shuttle looms are expertly operated by hand, taking time and care to produce our INNER PILE. This towel has two outer layers of baby-soft gauze with an inner layer of highly absorbent pile. Use it after bathing or washing, to cover your pillow or as a blanket—thick and fluffy yet soft and light, this is our reinvention of the classic towel.
Care: Avoid pulling loose threads and instead snip them carefully with a pair of scissors. Do not use chlorine bleach. Wash with like colors, especially in the beginning. The texture may be affected by different washing machines and/or laundry soaps. Avoid the overuse of fabric softeners as this may damage the fibers and reduce absorbency. Pulling or snapping the towel lengthwise while wet can cause the piles (the loops in the toweling) to stretch, resulting in gaps in the material. Handle wet towels gently. For best results, washed towels should be hung to dry in a shady, well-ventilated area.