Onsen Towels Review

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• OEKO-TEX Standard 100

The Short Version

Onsen makes a good towel for one specific job. If your bathroom is humid, your towels never seem to dry, and you’re tired of that sour smell by day three, the Supima waffle towel fixes that. It dries in about half an hour in the dryer, overnight on a hook, and owners who’ve had theirs since 2018 say they’ve never smelled.

What it doesn’t do is feel plush. The bath towel is 31 x 57 inches and weighs 470 grams, which is about 410 GSM. That’s roughly half the weight of a 600 to 700 GSM hotel towel. It feels crisp and textured, closer to a spa cloth than a bath sheet you wrap yourself in. Plenty of people love that. Plenty of people order it, unfold it, and feel cheated.

So the question isn’t “is Onsen good.” It’s “is Onsen the towel you’re actually picturing.” Here’s everything you need to decide.

What Onsen Actually Is

Onsen launched on Kickstarter in January 2017, founded by Shane Monson (with Connor MacArthur), and raised over $1 million against a $25,000 goal. The name means “hot spring” in Japanese, and the pitch was a towel built around the waffle weave you’d find in a Japanese bathhouse: light, quick-drying, and simple. The company is based in New York and was acquired by Pattern Brands in September 2022.

For years the lineup was one thing: the Supima Waffle. Today there are three lines, and they’re made from three different cottons, which matters more than the marketing lets on:

• Supima Waffle. The original and the flagship. 100% USA-grown Supima cotton, open waffle weave, OEKO-TEX certified. Eight colors in 2026 (Denim, White, Oatmeal, Cinder Grey, Charcoal, Forest, Sage, and Golden Ochre, which arrived in June).
• Sculpted Terry. Added in 2025. Plain USA-grown cotton, not Supima, in a textured terry. It’s cheaper and it’s also smaller: 28 x 55 inches, under the standard bath towel size.
• Plush (“Wovey”). Turkish Aegean cotton, made in Turkey, 40 x 65 inches. Marked Last Chance and Final Sale as I write this, so Onsen appears to be clearing it out.

Everything below is about the Supima Waffle unless I say otherwise, because it’s the one people search for and the one with years of real-world feedback behind it.

Onsen Towel Lineup and Prices (2026)

Prices as seen on onsentowel.com at the end of August 2026 during a “Labor Day, up to 50% off” sale. The list prices are what you’d pay if you caught the site between sales, which is rare.

Two things jump out. First, the bundles are where the value is: a 6-piece set at $119.93 works out to under $40 per bath towel with hand and face towels thrown in. Second, don’t confuse the bath towel with the bath sheet. A lot of reviews (including an older version of this page) quote the 38 x 67 inch bath sheet specs as if they were the bath towel. The bath towel is 31 x 57.

The GSM Onsen Doesn’t Publish

Onsen never states a GSM, which for a $59 towel is a little annoying. But they do publish weights, so we can work it out.

A 31 x 57 inch bath towel is 1.14 square meters. At 470 grams, that’s about 410 GSM. The bath sheet lands around 385 to 420 GSM depending on which of Onsen’s two listed weights you believe. When Onsen launched in 2018, trade press reported the towel at roughly 350 GSM, so it’s gotten a touch heavier over the years.

You’ll see “470 GSM” quoted in some reviews. That’s the 470 gram weight being mislabeled as a density figure. The real number is lower.

For context, here’s where 410 GSM sits:

None of this makes Onsen a bad towel. Waffle weave is supposed to be light; that’s the whole mechanism behind the fast drying. But if you read “Supima cotton” and “$59” and pictured something thick, the number above is the reality check. Our towel GSM guide goes deeper on what weight means for feel.

Supima: The Cotton Claim That Actually Checks Out

I spend a lot of time on this site pointing out cotton claims that don’t verify. Onsen’s does.

Supima is a licensed trademark, not a description. The Supima organization only lets brands use the name when they’re using verified American-grown extra-long-staple Pima cotton, grown mostly in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The fibers run about 50% longer than regular upland cotton, which is why they can be spun into finer, stronger yarn that resists pilling. It’s the same species (Gossypium barbadense) as Egyptian Giza cotton, and the two are closer cousins than either brand’s marketing would suggest. Our Egyptian cotton vs Supima guide walks through the differences.

The OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification is also real, and it means the finished towel was tested against a long list of harmful substances.

One caveat: the Supima licensing covers the Supima Waffle line. The Sculpted Terry towels are “100% USA-grown cotton” with no Supima mention, which almost certainly means ordinary upland cotton. And the clearance Plush towels are Turkish. Read the product page, not the brand tagline.

Where Onsen Towels Are Made

Here’s the part Onsen is quiet about. The product pages say “100% USA-grown Supima cotton” and stop there. The FAQ page, which most buyers never open, says the towels are designed in New York, use materials from the US and Turkey, and are manufactured in Vietnam and China. Press coverage when the brand launched in 2018 named China.

There’s nothing wrong with a towel woven in Vietnam. Some of the best mills in the world are there. But “USA-grown” on the label and nothing else creates an impression, and a fair number of buyers come away thinking they bought an American-made towel. You didn’t. If country of manufacture matters to you, now you know.

How Onsen Towels Perform

I lean on published testing here rather than my own hunches, because the numbers are consistent across sources.

Drying speed. Yahoo Shopping’s 2026 waffle towel roundup timed towels in a dryer on low: Brooklinen’s waffle finished in about 10 minutes, Parachute and Casaluna around 20, Onsen and West Elm around 30, Quince and Cozy Earth around 40. So Onsen is quick, but it isn’t the quickest waffle. Forbes Vetted found an Onsen towel dries on a hook in 8 to 10 hours if it’s spread out, and can still be damp after 18 hours if it’s left in a crumpled heap. Updweller timed a washcloth at about two hours to dry versus six for terry.

Smell. This is where Onsen earns its reputation. The wetried.it review has been running since October 2018 on the same set, and the verdict is “never, ever stank.” Reddit’s r/BuyItForLife owners report the same after four years. If mildew is your problem, the waffle solves it.

Absorbency. It absorbs by wicking rather than by bulk. Reviewers consistently say it gets you dry in a pass or two, but you feel the water moving across the surface rather than disappearing into pile. Apartment Therapy’s quarter-cup water test was inconclusive. A few Thingtesting reviewers say their towels lost absorbency after several months, which is nearly always detergent or softener buildup (see the care section below).

Softness. Crisp out of the box, softer after a few washes, never plush. Yahoo’s single-towel review rated it softer than West Elm and Casaluna, less soft than Brooklinen. One Thingtesting owner described it as “marginally thicker than muslin,” which is harsh but not wrong if you were expecting terry.

Shrinkage. Yahoo measured about half an inch each direction after five cycles. Esquire’s tester found it “shrunk a tad too much” in industrial dryers. Reddit owners note the middle pulls in more than the borders over time, so an older Onsen goes slightly hourglass.

Durability. Very good. No pilling or fraying reported by owners at the three, four, and seven year marks. The waffle can snag on rings and rough nails, though, so that’s worth knowing if you’re hard on towels.

Color. Wirecutter’s waffle pick, with one warning: it “seems to bleach more easily” than other towels, so they’d buy white. Apartment Therapy’s white towel picked up a reddish tint from other laundry. Reddit owners say solid dark colors (especially black) show lint and look worn, while the heathered greys hide it.

What Buyers Complain About

The praise is consistent: dries fast, never smells, lasts for years, looks clean and modern. The complaints are just as consistent, and they split into two groups.

The towel itself. Thin, crisp, “like wrapping a sheet around you,” “like drying off with sackcloth.” Some owners find it see-through when held up to the light. These are people who expected terry and got waffle, and I don’t think they’re wrong to be disappointed at $59, just wrong about which product to buy. Snagging on jewelry comes up too.

The company. This is the more serious one. Onsen’s Trustpilot page sits at 2.5 out of 5, with most reviews at one star. The pattern since 2023, after the Pattern Brands acquisition, is unanswered emails: “five emails over two weeks” in late 2023, “trying for a month” in late 2025, and a January 2026 review calling the brand a scam for ignoring messages. One buyer in 2025 had a DHL package marked delivered that never arrived, and says Onsen refused to help. Thingtesting is kinder at 3.7 out of 5, but the same themes show up there.

One more thing to know: the Onsen website shows the same 4.7-star, 4,242-review widget on every waffle product, because the reviews are shared across the line. On Amazon, where reviews are tied to a single listing, the bath towel sits at 4.0 stars from about 340 reviews. Both numbers are real. The Amazon one is the more honest picture.

Customer Service, Returns, and Shipping

Given the complaints above, the fine print matters.

• Returns: 60 days on unused items. You pay return postage, and it’s deducted from your refund. The original shipping fee isn’t refunded.
• Final Sale: the Plush line is marked Final Sale in 2026 and can’t be returned.
• Warranty: none stated.
• Shipping: $7 in the US, free over $95. Ships to the lower 48 states and Canada only. No Alaska, Hawaii, or international.

My practical advice: if you want an easier return path, buy a single towel through Amazon or Macy’s first. Their return desks don’t depend on Onsen answering an email. If you love it, then buy the bundle direct, where the pricing is better.

Which Color to Buy

This sounds trivial, but it’s the most common regret after “it’s thin.”

• White: Wirecutter’s recommendation because the towel bleaches easily. The downside is that it picks up tints from other laundry (wash it alone or with whites only).
• Heathered greys (Cinder Grey, Oatmeal): the safest choice. They hide lint and wear better than solids.
• Solid darks (Charcoal, Forest, Denim): show lint and fade at the edges over time. Reddit owners say black looks worn fastest.

Onsen vs Parachute vs Quince Waffle vs Kemet

If you’re deciding between waffle towels, or between waffle and terry, this is the comparison that matters.

The honest read: Parachute is the better waffle for most people at $17 less, unless the Supima licensing specifically matters to you. Quince is the budget waffle and dries slower. Kemet isn’t a waffle at all, and that’s the point. If you’re on this page because you want soft and heavy, that column is your answer. Our Parachute towels review and best quick-dry towels guide cover the waffle options in more detail.

Who Should Buy Onsen (and Who Shouldn’t)

Buy Onsen if:

• Your bathroom is humid and terry towels never fully dry between showers
• Musty towel smell is the problem you’re trying to solve
• You like a light, crisp towel (think spa robe, not hotel bath sheet)
• You want a licensed cotton claim you can actually check
• You travel, go to the gym, or have a small linen closet, because these pack flat

Skip Onsen if:

• You want thick, soft, and heavy. Look at a 600 to 700 GSM terry instead (Kemet, or our best plush towels guide)
• You’d need to email customer service and get a reply
• “Made in USA” matters to you (the cotton is, the towel isn’t)
• You’re on a budget. Parachute and Quince both make a decent waffle for less
• You’ve never used a waffle towel. Buy one, not a bundle, and see if you like the texture

Care Tips for Waffle Towels

A few things that keep an Onsen towel working the way it should:

1. Wash before first use with a cup of white vinegar and no detergent. This strips the finishing residue and gets the waffle absorbing from day one.
2. Skip fabric softener forever. It coats the fibers and is the number one reason owners report their towels “stopped absorbing.”
3. Warm wash, low dry. Hot dryers are what cause the shrinkage and the hourglass shape.
4. Hang it spread out. Forbes’ test showed the difference between 8 hours and 18-plus hours to dry was simply whether the towel was flat on a bar or bunched on a hook.
5. Wash whites alone for the first few cycles. The white towel picks up dye from other laundry.

Our how to wash towels guide has the full routine.

The Bottom Line

Onsen is a well-made, honestly labeled, fast-drying waffle towel with a customer service problem and a price that only makes sense on sale. For a humid bathroom or a musty-towel problem, it’s one of the better options out there, and the Supima licensing means you’re getting the fiber you paid for.

It is not a plush towel, and no amount of “Supima” changes what 410 GSM feels like. If you’ve read this far and realized you actually want the heavy hotel feel, Kemet’s 700 GSM Reserve line is what I’d point you to, and our best Egyptian cotton towels ranking has the rest.

Check Kemet Cotton Pricing →

If waffle is what you want, wait for the sale (there’s always one), pick a heathered grey, and buy a single towel before the bundle.