What is the big deal about towels? You can get them anywhere. I think the secret to having good, absorbent towels is (as someone else said) to not use fabric softener or dryer fabric softener sheets. Towels pretty much last forever, whether you've spent much on them or not. I used white towels for years, as another poster does. It is nice to use bleach and blue-ing on them and make them so white they almost glow in the dark. But I eventually got tired of all white all the time...now my towels are all different grays, from different stores. Places I've bought towels: J.C. Penney, L.L. Bean, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Marshalls, various department stores like Filene's, Macy's. They all were fine. Don't obsess.