Curious about the double soft towels, well all microfiber towels in general.

[Enigmatic Soul]

I just happened to see the video Adam posted months ago in regard to selling products made outside the US. Now Ive accumulated quite an amount of various towels since '12. I just ordered some more the last few weeks. Now i see that they were made in Korea. My question is, were the towels from '12 also Korean? I just ask since my double soft towels shed like crazy when I used them today. I dont recall my previous towels doing that. No worries though, they did a great job wiping off Americana after i applied it. I was just curious about the shedding. Thanks again! 

[2Fords]

Yes, they have always been made in Korea to my knowledge. The US doesnt make any microfiber that I know of.

[stripesace]

Pretty much all quality microfiber comes from Korea. China being a close second, and Germany falls in there somewhere as a microfiber manufacturer. 

[BluedogGMC]

I think that is where they have always come from. If I am not mistaking, they make the best Micro Fiber out there.

[pirahnah3]

never had my doubls shed at all and i have all "new" ones. i do always wash my towles before use so maybe that has something to do with it?

[Dan@Adams]

Correct, our microfiber towels have always come from Korea because no one in the USA manufactures quality microfiber. The double softs and single softs do seem to "shed" a little bit with some shipments we receive, so the shipping team does try to give them all a few snaps before folding them up to get any of those extra fibers out of them. I still shake them out one more time before I wash mine though.

[SYMAWD]

You should always wash them before use.

[goheels]

Pretty much all quality microfiber comes from Korea. China being a close second, and Germany falls in there somewhere as a microfiber manufacturer.

China comes in a close second? News to me. (Walmart/autozone microfiber are all from China)

[marquez93]

^I agree. They might be second, but not a close second. When my hands get dried out from washing the car, I can barely stand to hold the Chinese towels as they grab all the rough skin, but the South Korean ones always feel soft.

[GXPaycheck]

China makes the crappy stuff that is good for anything but paint. The best is from Korea.

[Ricky Bobby]

FYI - there is a difference between big box store junk Chinese microfiber, and microfiber towels that say "Made in China" but are either top quality Chinese microfiber, AND/OR they are sewn on Chinese machines using Korean microfiber and say they are Chinese made.

 

This is a huge misconception - yes the Adams towels sold from Korea are top quality and some of the best in the business, but as a weekend warrior and occasional detailer on the side and having about 100+ towels in rotation now, all the Chinese towels I have work just as well as my Korean towels, because I buy QUALITY towels from my suppliers.  A package of cheapo Costco towels are best for cleaning inside the house, and for dirty engine bays or door jambs, they are bought in bulk at a very cheap price so the factory has to make them to a certain quality standpoint for the price.

 

Do I support Korean microfiber towels because of their quality?  Absolutely, and I have been buying more and more Korean towels lately because their price has come down significantly.  However, I have had Korean towels that have become crap after just a few washes, and a few Chinese towels do the same.  Most likely bad batches of each, not necessarily country of origin.  On the flip side, I have some towels in rotation for 6 years, from both countries of origin.

 

This article (I won't link it since it comes from a very reputable Microfiber distributor who sells Chinese and Korean towels) sums up the China/Korea myths very well:

 

Everyday we answer the same questions about microfiber products, most of these questions are spawned by misinformation posted on various websites on the web, and have to do with the labeling of the products. I thought I would dispel some of these "myths" with an article that explains in more detail the differences between the hundreds of variations of microfiber fabrics.

 

By far, the most common questions asked have to do with the blend or composition of the microfiber material. Microfiber is a blend of two man-made fibers, polyester and polyamide. Most commonly 80/20 and 70/30. Experienced users of microfiber products notice that some of their towels are labeled 70/30 and some are labeled 80/20 (sometimes 85/15 or 75/25). Some users notice that they like the towels labeled 70/30 better and assume that they are better because they are 70/30, other users notice that they like the towels labeled 80/20 better and assume that it is because they are 80/20. But this is NOT the case.

 

Let me tell you why. First of all, there are many other factors that effect the quality of a microfiber fabric, and there are many factors that effect the the performance for a particular task. There can be huge quality differences between two similarly constructed fabrics (yarn quality, construction quality, quality control), and there can be huge differences in performance (for a particular task) between two quality fabrics (i.e fabrics for wet mopping do not work well for car drying, and fabrics for car drying don't work well for wet mopping). And for the most part none of these quality or performance differences can be accounted for by the stated polyester/polyamide blend of the fabric.

 

Second, most microfiber fabrics are labeled incorrectly. The truth is that the U.S. Government requires that companies label their imported products with the country of origin and the content of the product (in our case the ratio of polyester to polyamide). They don't require that these content declarations be 100% accurate. In fact for a given product on a given production run, there will be a +/- 2% difference in fiber content, and no perceivable difference for the user. On top of that, a manufacturer will label the towels in what ever manner (within reason) the buyer requests.

 

You may be thinking, "That sure is deceptive.", but it really is just a matter of semantics. For the most part, all microfiber yarns start out as a blend of 70% polyester and 30% polyamide. For most microfiber products (not waffle weave) the microfiber yarn is woven through a polyester backing (ground), at this point the composition of the product is closer to 80% polyester and 20% polyamide, because you have to add in the 100% polyester backing. Some factories will call this fabric 70/30 and some 80/20.

 

The other common question about microfiber products is with regards to the country of manufacture. Most microfiber towels are made in Korea or China, with some now made in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. A decade ago Korea was pretty much the only place where microfiber was manufactured (along with some in Japan), only a small amount was made in China, but the quality was very poor. In the last few years many Chinese factories have made leaps and bounds in manufacturing processes and quality control. The bottom line is that now-a-days there are high and low quality products coming out of both Korea and China. Often times, as is the case with many of our products, the fabrics are made in Korea, then sent to China to be cut and sewn, where the labor is less expensive, and labeled "Made in China".  So there you have it!

 

The bottom line is that you should not judge a microfiber product by its label. The labels are often incorrect or misleading, and you should not base your buying decisions on the information on the label. There are other more important factors that go into the quality of a product, or the appropriateness of the product for a particular cleaning task.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Ricky Bobby

[marquez93]

Very good information Jason. I've tried to stick to Korean when I buy towels elsewhere, but now I know that won't really guarantee anything.  Thanks!

[Ricky Bobby]

The point is to buy your towels from a reputable Microfiber source - Adam's is absolutely more than reputable and known for quality towels and stands behind what they sell - not just a country of origin thing, I just wanted to dispel that rumor as I have towels from both countries which are great

[stripesace]

Jason, I feel like I owe you a thank you for the support on my China comments  

[Enigmatic Soul]

Wow thanks for all the information fellas! Much appreciated! Shall wash my new batch of towels since I shall be placing another order with Adams. Love this stuff!

[rrmccabe]

I know this thread is a couple months old but found it searching as I just watched Adam's video and when he said Korea I was shocked as I know Adams works hard to supply American made product. Kudos to them for doing so.

 

I will say their website verbiage on the products is kinda sneaky though. Use little symbols instead of saying Made in KOREA or Made in USA.

 

All good.

 

And my advice to anyone that's going to use double soft towels is to wash them first.  I have 6 in the washer at this moment because they made more of a mess than they did good today. White stuff EVERYWHERE.