Best Bet: Christy Renaissance Towel

Photo: Bobby Doherty

The goal: Find the ideal cotton bath towel. We tested weaves ranging from the dense (Schweitzer Linen’s Classic 800 weighs in at 800 grams per square meter) to the soft (Uchino’s featherlight Marshmallow Plus is made with fibers grown in the Xinjiang desert), along with heaps of others recommended by linens specialists, bath-emporium staffers, luxury hoteliers, and no-nonsense showerers alike.

The verdict: The one that ultimately felt just right to our team of Goldilocksian editors — and continued to feel that way after multiple washes — was the Christy Renaissance towel ($25; thecompanystore.com), which combines hefty Egyptian cotton with the velvety finish of long, single-strand loops. On March 26, the Manchester-based brand, official towel purveyor of Wimbledon, will debut its U.S. website, christylinens.com.

Best Bet: Christy Renaissance Towel