Why we put magnets in a towel
Every towel we owned ended up on the floor. So we stopped trying to be more disciplined and changed the towel instead.
3 min read
There is a moment in every session where your towel ends up somewhere it should not be. Draped over a machine someone else wants. Balled up on a bench. On the floor, which is the worst possible surface for something you are about to put on your face.
The usual answer is a clip — a plastic hook sewn to one corner, or a loop you hang on a peg that is never where you need it. Clips break, loops need a hook, and both mean fiddling with hardware while your hands are wet.
Gyms are made of metal
The realisation was almost too simple. Look around a gym: machines, racks, benches, dumbbell frames. Almost every surface is steel. The same is true of a tennis court — net posts, fence rails. And of a car, a jetty, a balcony railing.
If the environment is already magnetic, the towel does not need hardware. It needs magnets.
In the corners, not on them
The magnets sit inside the hem at the corners rather than clipped to the outside. That matters for two reasons: there is nothing sticking out to catch or snap off, and there is nothing glued on to fail in the wash. Fold a corner over a bar and it grips. Fold two corners together and the towel holds to itself, so it hangs flat.
Hanging flat is the unglamorous benefit. A towel that dries evenly stays fresher between washes — which matters more than it sounds.
