Textile manufacturer coming to Bristol makes ‘high-quality’ bath towels_Towel_Home Textile_Textile & Leather Product_Apparel,Textiles & Accessories_News

BRISTOL, Va. — Right now, luxury bath towels might not be on your radar when shopping for bathroom staples, but a new production facility in Bristol will bring soft, high-end towels a lot closer to home.

American Merchant, the newly announced Bristol, Virginia, facility, gave the Bristol Herald Courier an inside look at the kinds of fabrics they’ll be making at their plant.

“Most retailers out there have what is known as a good, better and best towel,” said Robert Burton, chairman of American Merchant. “We want to produce heavier, high-quality towels.”

The towels produced at the Old Abingdon Highway facility will be sold in major retailers, including Bed, Bath and Beyond, Belk and other big-box stores, according to Burton.

“We have a long list of candidates, [and] we want to be able to put these towels into their stores,” Burton said. “We don’t want to play the game of providing low-quality and cheap [products].”

Towels produced by American Merchant will be made from 100 percent USA-quality cotton. The company will ship cotton into the facility from various states, including the Southeast region.

“Highland cotton and pima cotton are the two types of cotton used in the towel industry,” Burton said. “The shorter staple cotton is what will be coming from this region of the country. The longer staple cotton will be brought in from the Midwest — from California and Arizona.”

Most towels are made of cotton, but the look and feel depends on the type of cotton used. Towels designed for everyday use are made of standard cotton, while more expensive towels will have longer, more fibrous threads. Ultra-soft bath towels typically use Egyptian cotton or, increasingly, the American-grown version, called pima cotton, which offers a luxurious look and feel.

American Merchant’s state-of-the-art production facility will make producing those high-end towels a lot easier, and all of it will be accomplished right in Bristol.

“We will buy the spun yarn and prepare the beams,” Burton said. “After weaving the beams and the looms, you’re inserting yarn, and it’s a very high-speed insertion process that we will use to create the towels. We will then dye them and finish them onsite in the building.”