Heads up: The domestic terry base is smaller than it was. 1888 Mills closed its US terry towel plant in Griffin, Georgia in 2024. The WARN notice covered 180 jobs, including weaving, finishing and hemming, and the plant had roughly 50 looms running (Home Textiles Today, February 2024). Treat any "made in USA" towel claim as something to verify at the mill, not the label.
Towel manufacturers are terry weavers, not cut-and-sew clothing factories, and that one fact should change your entire supplier shortlist. A hoodie is cut from fabric someone else made. A towel is the fabric: it's woven on a specialised terry loom that pulls loops of pile yarn out of the ground weave, then hemmed. Most of the towels sold in the United States are woven abroad, and the domestic base that remains is small. 1888 Mills, one of the top 10 home textiles suppliers to the US market, makes most of its volume in its own plants abroad (Home Textiles Today, 2024).
This directory profiles four US companies that make custom towels for other businesses and brands, each checked on its own website. Three of them weave towels in the United States. The fourth makes and decorates custom towels in Los Angeles. Four is what the research supports. We didn't pad the list with towel brands that don't produce for anyone else, or with promotional resellers that don't say where their towels are made.
Heads up: We're OneAim, a group of documented United States clothing factories. The companies below are independent towel makers listed on public sources, not members of our group. OneAim's role is separate: we place your production with a documented factory in our group built for your product.
Key Takeaways
- Towels are home textiles, not apparel. A towel is woven terry cloth. A clothing factory will not weave your towel, and if it says yes, it will buy the cloth from a mill you never meet.
- The US terry base is thin. 1888 Mills shut its Griffin, Georgia terry plant in 2024, and most towels sold in the US are now woven abroad.
- Custom jacquard is where US weaving survives. Fancy Terry (Inman, SC), Custom Woven Towels (Wilmington, NC) and Custom Towels, Inc. (Freeburg, IL) all weave logo and design towels for businesses.
- Only one roster company publishes minimums. Custom Woven Towels lists beach towel minimums from 25 pieces. The others quote per project.
- Ask where each step happens. Weaving, dyeing, cutting, hemming and decoration can sit in different places. A "made in USA" towel should be woven here, not only printed or hemmed here.
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Why is a towel a weaving job, not a sewing job?
Because the loop is the product. A terry towel is woven on a loom with an extra warp beam that feeds slack pile yarn. A beat-up motion pushes that slack into loops on both faces of the cloth. Those loops are what absorb water. The only sewing involved is the hem and the selvedge finish. There's no pattern cutting, no grading, no fitting.
That's why a cut-and-sew apparel factory can't help you, however good it is at hoodies. It buys fabric; it doesn't weave pile. If your first call about a towel line goes to your t-shirt manufacturer, expect a polite yes followed by a quiet outsourcing to someone you never meet. Would you ask a tailor to make you a carpet?
How did we choose these manufacturers?
Every company below had to pass three checks on its own website: it states that it makes towels in the United States, it takes custom orders from other businesses, and it publishes a real US address. We left out towel brands that sell only their own products, promotional distributors that don't say where their towels are made, and mills whose own sites we couldn't load to confirm the claim.
That last group includes Standard Textile. Trade press reported a Made in USA hotel terry collection from its Thomaston, Georgia and Union, South Carolina plants in 2018 (Textile World), but we couldn't confirm the current programme on the company's own site, so it isn't in the roster. Where a figure below is a company's own claim, such as a founding year, capacity or minimum, we label it as self-reported. We didn't rank the four, because they do different jobs.
Which US towel manufacturers make custom towels for brands?
Fancy Terry, Inc. (Inman, South Carolina)
A jacquard terry weaver that states "we proudly weave all our products in our facility in Inman, South Carolina" and describes its business as jacquard weaving since 1993 (Fancy Terry). It makes custom jacquard woven terry towels, tapestries and throws for businesses and organisations, so the design is woven into the pile rather than printed on top. Minimums are not published. Best for a logo or pattern towel that has to be woven, not decorated.
Custom Woven Towels (Wilmington, North Carolina)
Custom Woven Towels, LLC says its towels are made in the United States on "one of our many Jacquard looms", with golf and beach towels as its most popular lines, plus swim team, bar and spa towels (Custom Woven Towels). It is the only company in this roster that publishes minimums: 25 pieces for 30-inch-wide beach towels and 50 for 34-inch widths, with golf towel minimums that vary by size. All figures are self-reported. Best for a first logo towel run at a small quantity.
Custom Towels, Inc. (Freeburg, Illinois)
A family-owned maker of custom woven towels and blankets, founded in 1984, which says its products are "crafted in the USA using state-of-the-art weaving machines" (Custom Towels, Inc.). It also offers digitally printed fibre-reactive towels, handles artwork and free e-proofs, and advertises low minimums without stating a number. The founding year and the 40-plus years of trading are the company's own statements. Best for golf, sport and resort towels with a woven logo.
Rally Towels (Gardena, California)
A custom towel producer for teams, events and promotions, which states its stock is "all manufactured domestically here in Los Angeles" and that it decorates in-house (Rally Towels). Its range covers rally, golf, hand and beach towels. Be precise about what it is: a decorated-towel specialist, not a jacquard weaver, and its own site also mentions international manufacturing, so ask which programme your order runs on. Minimums vary by towel and decoration method. Best for printed giveaway towels at event volumes.
What should you ask a US towel maker before ordering?
- Where is it woven? Weaving, dyeing, hemming and decoration can each happen in a different place. Ask for the weaving location in writing.
- Woven, printed or embroidered? A jacquard logo is built into the pile on the loom. A printed or embroidered logo is added to a finished towel. They look and wear differently.
- What GSM, and what size? Weight sets cost, hand feel, drying time and freight. Agree it on the spec sheet, not by eye.
- What is the minimum per design and colourway? Ask whether a second colourway or design counts against the same minimum or starts a new one.
- Can you send a strike-off or sample? A woven logo should be approved on cloth before the full run.
Towel manufacturing questions
Are towels still woven in the USA?
Yes, but at a small scale. 1888 Mills stopped production at its US terry towel plant in Griffin, Georgia in 2024 (Home Textiles Today). What remains is mostly custom jacquard weaving for businesses, such as Fancy Terry in South Carolina, Custom Woven Towels in North Carolina and Custom Towels, Inc. in Illinois.
Can a clothing manufacturer make towels?
Almost never. Towels are woven terry cloth, made on specialised looms with a second warp beam that feeds slack pile yarn into loops. Apparel factories cut and sew fabric that someone else wove. If a clothing manufacturer says yes to a towel order, ask which mill will actually weave it, because it will not be them.
What is the minimum order for custom towels in the USA?
Only one company in this roster publishes a figure: Custom Woven Towels lists 25 pieces for 30-inch-wide beach towels and 50 for 34-inch widths, self-reported. Custom Towels, Inc. advertises low minimums without a number, Rally Towels says minimums vary by towel and decoration, and Fancy Terry quotes per project.
What GSM is a good bath towel?
It depends on use. Heavier towels feel plusher and read as premium, but they use more cotton, dry more slowly and cost more to ship. Hotel, gym and giveaway towels are usually lighter because they are laundered often and need to dry fast. Set the GSM on the spec sheet and check it on the sample.
What is the difference between a Turkish towel and a terry towel?
A terry towel is woven with raised absorbent loops on both faces. A Turkish-style pestemal is flat-woven with no pile, so it's thin, folds small, dries quickly and ships light. "Turkish cotton" is a separate claim about the fibre, not about the weave.
What is a dobby border on a towel?
A dobby border is a woven decorative band near the hem, produced on a dobby loom attachment. It's the detail that makes a towel look retail rather than institutional. The cheaper alternative is a plain hem. At the top end, a jacquard towel carries a pattern or logo woven through the pile itself, which is the speciality of the US custom weavers above.
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Sources
- Fancy Terry, Inc., Inman, South Carolina, checked October 2026. Source of the in-house weaving statement, jacquard weaving since 1993 and custom jacquard towels for businesses (self-reported).
- Custom Woven Towels, LLC, Custom Towels, Wilmington, North Carolina, checked October 2026. Source of the US jacquard loom statement, product range and published minimums (self-reported).
- Custom Towels, Inc., Freeburg, Illinois, checked October 2026. Source of the 1984 founding, family ownership, US weaving statement and low-minimum claim (self-reported).
- Rally Towels, About Us, Gardena, California, checked October 2026. Source of the Los Angeles manufacturing statement, product range and mention of international manufacturing (self-reported).
- Home Textiles Today, "1888 Mills factory closure will eliminate nearly 200 jobs", 5 February 2024. Source of the Griffin, Georgia terry plant closure, the 180 jobs, the roughly 50 looms and the company's overseas manufacturing network.
- Textile World, "Standard Textile Launches Made In USA Hotel Terry And Sheeting Collection", May 2018. Source of the Thomaston, Georgia and Union, South Carolina plants.
- OneAim Apparel internal sourcing and pipeline observations, 2024 to 2026.
Every company named above appears in this source list. Founding dates, weaving statements, capacity and minimums are the companies' own published statements, labelled as such in the text, and we did not independently audit them. No company in this article is a OneAim group member, and none paid to appear. Reviewed and updated 12 October 2026 by Will Godax.
