History of Turkish Towels: From Hammam to Hotel

The Turkish bath towel began as a simple, flat-woven cloth worn and used in the hammam, the communal bathhouse that shaped social life across Anatolia and the Ottoman world. Its story runs from the Roman baths of the ancient Mediterranean, through the great Ottoman hammams, to the poolside lounger at a modern resort. The design has barely changed, and that is the best argument for it.

This is a story worth knowing if you sell, gift or simply love textiles, because craft with a history is easier to talk about and easier to believe in. Here is how the peshtemal got from the steam room to the gift box.

Where does the Turkish bath come from?

The hammam did not appear out of nowhere. Public bathing was central to Roman life, with large bath complexes built across the empire, including in the territories that are now Turkey. When Roman power shifted east, the Byzantines carried bathing traditions forward, and the practice endured in the region long after.

When Turkic peoples settled in Anatolia, they met this inheritance and merged it with the cleanliness traditions of Islamic culture, in which ritual washing has great importance. The outcome was something new: the hammam, a series of heated rooms where bathers sweated in steam, washed and rested, with an emphasis on warm air and water rather than the large cold and hot pools of Roman style. The Seljuks, who ruled much of Anatolia before the Ottomans, built bathhouses, and the tradition grew from there.

What was it like inside an Ottoman hammam?

Under the Ottomans, the hammam became a pillar of the city. Neighbourhoods had their own, and bathhouses were often built close to mosques and markets as part of wider charitable complexes. A visit followed a gentle rhythm: undress and wrap, move through warm rooms, sweat, be washed and scrubbed with a coarse mitt and soapy foam, rinse and finally rest.

It was never only about cleaning. The hammam was where friends met, news travelled and families marked occasions. Women gathered there before weddings and other celebrations, and bathing days for men and women were kept separate. The bath was a place to slow down.

Several objects belonged to the ritual: the heated marble slab, the scrubbing mitt, copper bowls, wooden clogs to keep feet off hot, wet floors and, essential to it all, the flat cloth that wrapped the bather. That cloth is our subject.

Why was a flat-woven cloth the right choice?

Consider the conditions. A hammam is hot, damp and busy. A thick, heavy towel would soak up steam, stay wet for hours, be hard to wash and slow to dry. A thin flat-woven cloth solved every one of those problems:

• It dried fast, so it could be used again and again through the day.
• It was light, which suited wrapping around the body in warm air.
• It washed easily, which mattered in a place that took hygiene seriously.
• It was modest, covering the bather while leaving freedom of movement.
• It lasted, because tightly woven cotton or linen-type cloth gets stronger and softer with repeated washing.

The name peshtemal became attached to this cloth, and you will see it spelled several ways. If you want a plain-language introduction to the object itself, see What Is a Turkish Towel?

Who made these cloths, and how?

Peshtemals were woven by skilled weavers, often in family workshops, on looms that interlace threads lengthwise and across to build the cloth row by row. Stripes and checks came from varying the colour of yarns. Fringe at the ends, twisted or knotted by hand, was both decorative and practical because it secured the ends of the weave.

Different regions developed their own weaving habits, and western Turkey, including the area around Denizli, became a major textile centre. That legacy is the background for the small, family-run mills we work with today, which keep flat weaving alive alongside newer techniques such as jacquard. We tell that side of the story in From Loom to Logo.

How did the peshtemal move from the bathhouse to everyday life?

A good cloth does not stay in one room. Because the peshtemal was light, durable and inexpensive to launder, it found other jobs. People wrapped themselves in it at the seaside, dried dishes with it, carried goods in it, draped it over shoulders as a shawl and spread it for picnics. Households kept a stack. It was a textile that quietly did many things.

Gifts are part of the story too. In many cultures a beautiful bath cloth was a customary present, and the idea of a bath set as a wedding gift travelled with the hammam itself. That is a gentle precedent for the idea of a towel as a present rather than a utility item.

A cloth that served the bathhouse for centuries did not need reinventing. It needed rediscovering.

What happened when terry towels arrived?

Industrialisation changed how textiles were made. With mechanised looms, looped terry towelling became widely produced, and thick, plush towels spread through homes in many countries as the standard. In Western bathrooms in particular, terry became the default.

The peshtemal did not disappear. It stayed in daily use in Turkey and in places shaped by hammam culture. But beyond them, for a time, it was easy to overlook. We compare the two cloths head to head in Peshtemal vs Terry Towel.

Why are Turkish towels popular again?

Several things came together as travel opened up and tastes shifted.

1. Travellers brought them home. Visitors to Turkey discovered the cloth in hammams and markets and took it back as a souvenir that turned out to be useful.
2. Beach and resort culture embraced the look. The stripes, fringe and drape suit coastal style, and the quick-drying, sand-shedding weave made the practical case.
3. Hospitality adopted them. Hotels, spas and resorts found a stylish, easy-to-launder alternative for poolside and spa use.
4. Buyers started valuing craft. Natural fibre, handwork and heritage speak to people who want fewer, better things.
5. Brands saw the canvas. A flat, generous cloth turned out to be perfect for logos.

How are Turkish towels made and decorated today?

Much remains the same: cotton yarn, a loom, careful finishing and fringe. What has expanded is decoration. Today a design can be woven into the fabric with jacquard, stitched in with embroidery or applied with printing for vibrant artwork. Finishing extends to custom hang tags, woven labels, branded belly bands or sleeves and personalised packaging.

We design, develop and decorate custom Turkish towels for promotional-product distributors, brands, resorts, universities, nonprofits and event planners. We work with textile makers and mills in Turkey, and our towels use long-staple cotton from the Aegean region. The fibre story is in Turkish Cotton Explained.

What can a brand take from this history?

The peshtemal's long life holds a lesson for anyone choosing promotional products: things that people use survive, and things that people use well become loved. A cloth that earned its place in a hammam, then in the kitchen, at the sea and in the suitcase, is a safe bet for a beach bag. You can explore what is available now on our inventory page.

Frequently asked questions

What is a peshtemal used for in a hammam?

It is the flat cloth that bathers wrap around themselves for modesty and warmth, and use for drying off and resting after the bath. Its light, quick-drying weave suits the hot, damp conditions of a hammam.

How old is the Turkish towel tradition?

The peshtemal is tied to the hammam, which developed from older Roman and Byzantine bathing customs and grew through the Seljuk and Ottoman eras. Flat weaving itself is older still, so the tradition spans many centuries.

Is a Turkish towel the same as a hammam towel?

Yes, in everyday use the terms overlap. Hammam towel, peshtemal, pestemal and Turkish towel all describe the flat-woven cloth traditionally used in the Turkish bath.

Why did Turkish towels become popular outside Turkey?

Travellers carried them home, and beach clubs, spas and hotels embraced their look and practical qualities. They are light, dry quickly, shed sand and pack small, which suits modern lifestyles.