How to Fold Gym Towels Like a Pro

Created: Friday, 14 June 2019 15:45

If you run a fitness center, one of your top priorities is ensuring your clients love your gym and continue to come back week after week to use your machines and take your classes. One critical part of offering members a welcoming environment is to clean efficiently. You need to make sure your equipment and workout spaces remain sparkling and sanitary.

That means having a place for everything and putting everything in its place. Folding your gym towels correctly plays a role in this presentation. Neat, well-aligned rows of towels make your gym appear more organized. These towels are easier for members to access. And they stay clean and tidy. Your clients won't pay for a gym whose towels get mildewed, and knowing how to fold gym towels and store them properly protects them from becoming smelly.

Folding your gym towels to create a neat and orderly presentation reflects well on your gym. Take the time to learn this craft, and your clientele will appreciate it.

Why Fold Your Gym Towels?

There are many reasons to fold your gym towels properly. Here are four you should consider:

1. Tidily folded towels make a great impression on your customers. Imagine coming into the gym and seeing towels of all shapes and sizes heaped in disarray around the hallways and machines. Or imagine opening a closet to find towels hanging down, scrunched up or thrown in. Trying to pull out one towel would bring the rest cascading down on your head. Wouldn't you then think the gym was messy and unorganized?
2. Most people want to work in a clean and attractive space, and that goes for working out, too. One recent study found gym patrons report only about 80 percent satisfaction with their gyms — and only 55 percent of gym members would definitely recommend their fitness centers to a friend. It's important to do everything possible to make your gym a welcoming and well-organized space. Folding your towels enhances the image of your business by creating a positive impression in customers' minds.
3. Smartly folded towels can help you save space. Storage space is often at a premium — especially if you have bought in bulk from Tower Super Center to get the best deals, giving you an abundant supply of fresh, clean towels. Folding your towels carefully can help you consolidate your stock and save valuable space for other things. This makes your storage system more efficient and helps your facility run more smoothly. Who could say no to that?
4. Folding your towels can — believe it or not! — even save you money in the long run. Properly folding your towels reduces wear and tear, extending the life of the towels. Towels scattered all over the building can be bumped by other objects, from weights and athletic shoes to human hands. But towels folded neatly and put away stay safer and will last longer. Folding your towels increases their durability and eases the strain on your budget — a positive for any business.
5. Folding towels prevents them from getting mildewed or smelly. When you pile up towels without folding them properly, you may not realize they are damp and require another run through the dryer. These damp towels will begin to stink after just a few days.

Folding Styles for Your Gym Towels

If you provide washcloths for patrons to use in your gym, you can also fold and stack your washcloths for easy storage. Just fold each washcloth in half and then fold it in half once more. Nothing could be simpler. You'll end up with small, stackable squares that can fit into your closets as part of a quick and efficient storage plan.

Folding Styles for Your Gym Towels

To fold gym towels for your closet, use a technique that aligns the towel edges and keeps the towels as flat and compact as possible. This will make your towels easy to stack and increase the number of towels you can squeeze into a small space. To maximize efficiency and closet space, fold your towels using the following simple steps:

1. Lay your towel out on a flat, clean surface. Smooth out the towel to remove any wrinkles to ensure that it is crisp and ready to go.
2. Fold one of the long edges of the towel lengthwise toward the other edge until it is two-thirds of the way across. Smooth out the towel to remove any wrinkles that may pop up.
3. Fold the other long edge of the towel the other way so that it comes all the way across the rest of the towel and stops. It should cover the first fold but not go any farther. If you have done this step right, you will end up with the three long thirds of the towel stacked neatly, one on top of the other, and the towel will look very long and thin.
4. Fold the towel in half crosswise, so that the one short edge meets the other. Make sure the towel maintains its alignment and no part of the fabric slips or bulges out. If this happens, begin this step over and try again. It's better to get your folding perfect here than to try to smooth out bumps at the end of the process.
5. Fold the towel in half crosswise a second time. You should end up with a neat rectangular parcel you can stow in your closet with other folded towels. If your towels are all the same size, this folding process should leave you with folded towels that are all the same shape — so there's no need to play Tetris with your towel closet. Fit the towels together tightly in the closet to maximize your space and ensure that the folded towels maintain their perfect shapes. Your towels will be neat, tidy, stackable and wrinkle-free.

If you provide washcloths for patrons to use in your gym, you can also fold and stack your washcloths for easy storage. Just fold each washcloth in half and then fold it in half once more. Nothing could be simpler. You'll end up with small, stackable squares that can fit into your closets as part of a quick and efficient storage plan.

Folding Gym Towels for Display

Using your closet space for towel storage is nice, but often you will want to display folded gym towels in your main workout area so that customers can access them quickly. In this case, you can get a little more creative with your folding technique. One folding style you can use to display your gym towels for the public is to roll the towels up in a simple but elegant and eye-pleasing fashion.

To fold your towels into rolls, follow these steps:

1. Lay your towel out on a flat, clean surface. Smooth out the towel to remove any wrinkles and ensure that it's crisp and ready to take on a new shape without wrinkling.
2. Fold the towel in half lengthwise. Make sure that the corners and edges line up precisely and that you continue to smooth out any wrinkles that might pop up.
3. Make a tight roll of fabric at one short end of the towel. Roll the towel up tightly until you've reached the other end. Remember to keep the edges aligned and the towel fabric smooth. You should end up with an even, symmetrical roll with none of the telescoping effect that can happen if your edges are not perfectly aligned.
4. When you're setting out your towels, arrange them all the same way to create a uniform and polished look. It can help to set out each towel so that the seam of the roll is on the bottom, facing the table or another surface. The weight of the towel will then hold the seam in place and prevent the towel from unrolling.

One benefit of folding and rolling your gym towels is that the rolled shape fits neatly, almost perfectly, into a cupped hand — so your gym members can grab and go. This convenience factor is a great reason to provide hand-rolled towels to your customers. Your customers will certainly appreciate being able to pick up a towel with ease as they walk in the door.

You can unroll your rolled towels with a quick flick of the wrist. This means a member can flip a towel out to its full length in only a heartbeat. Even a few seconds can be precious to someone trying to fit a quick workout into their busy, jam-packed life, so help your members make every single second count by folding your gym towels into rolls.

Folding Gym Towels With Flair

Folding your towels for efficiency, presentation and convenience is a wonderful start, but there may be times when you want to make an even more polished and professional impression on your guests. In this case, you can up your towel folding game to create eye-catching results that are sure to wow your guests and set you apart from the pack.

With your washcloths, you can take one quick, additional step to make your folding look more stylish and display-worthy. After folding your washcloths into quarters, as you would for closet storage, simply turn down the top layer of fabric so that the top corner meets the bottom one. This creates a triangular shape on top of the square — the washcloth is still folded into squares, but it now has a triangular pocket in front.

For a bit more advanced towel folding, you can borrow a technique from the hotel industry by folding a washcloth into a fan shape and folding a gym towel into a pocket shape to hold the washcloth. This pocket technique is easy to master, and it works best on thick, sturdy towels that hold their shape.

To create elegant, professional-looking fan-and-pocket folds, follow these steps:

1. Lay your washcloth out on a flat, clean surface. Smooth out the washcloth to remove any wrinkles.
2. Accordion-fold the washcloth by folding one edge over by about an inch and a half. Then fold the washcloth back in the other direction, again by about an inch and a half.
3. Repeat these steps until your washcloth is folded up like an accordion and you hold a long, skinny strip made up of back-and-forth folds.
4. Using your thumb and two fingers, pinch this strip in the middle to fold it in half. You should end up with your washcloth in a bent U-shape with all the pleated edges at the top of the U.
5. While continuing to pinch the middle of the washcloth between your thumb and fingers, carefully fan out the pleated ends. Your washcloth will end up in a shape that resembles that of a handheld fan, with the pinched end at the bottom and a curved, scalloped shape at the top.

You can also fold a hand-towel-sized gym towel to create a pocket for your professionally folded washcloth. To create this pocket, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Place the gym towel on a flat, clean surface so the bottom of the towel is closest to you and the top is farthest away.
2. Fold the left and right edges in to fold the gym towel lengthwise into thirds.
3. Flip the towel so that the middle third faces upward and the two edges are below.
4. Fold the entire top third of the towel backward so that it lies beneath the rest of the towel.
5. To make the pocket, you will turn the bottom of the towel inside out. Take hold of the bottom third of the towel and flip it inside out so that the bottom edge turns upward and creates a pocket shape. You will likely have to fiddle with the back of the pocket to get the edges to overlap and lie flat. Straighten and shape your pocket until it is smooth and symmetrical. With a sturdy enough towel, the pocket should be able to maintain its shape without drooping or flopping over.
6. The last step is to insert the fan-shaped washcloth into the towel pocket you've created. Voila! You've folded your gym towels with flair.

Of course, this more elaborate style of folding and arranging is more time consuming, but it can be a great way to keep a locker room or shower looking sharp and stylish. If you have towels set out for patrons in your locker room or shower area, try folding your towels in this way — your customers will be impressed with your extra effort and classy towels.

Get Ready to Fold Some Gym Towels From Towel Super Center

The towels at any gym take a beating, for sure. They mop sweaty foreheads, act as protective covers for bike seats, wipe down equipment and can even be incorporated into strength-training exercises. Your towels work hard for your gym, so why not put a little work into making them look neat and tidy, especially if in the process you can free up storage space and extend their lifespan?

Your patrons count on you for high-quality, durable towels they can use to stay clean and hygienic throughout their workout and beyond. By properly folding your gym towels, you enhance the professional image, convenience and efficiency of your gym facilities. You save time and space, and you make your fitness space into one that stands out from the rest. Buy gym towels in bulk from Towel Supercenter to take advantage of our great deals, and get ready to start folding.