Men's long blue fleece towelling bathrobe

Start with what the garment is for: a bathrobe earns its place in the ten minutes after a bath, when you want to be dry and warm at the same time. Towelling is woven with raised loops on both faces, and those loops are what hold water. It is the same construction as a bath towel, which is why a towelling robe dries you instead of sitting damp on top of you. That is the difference between a towelling robe and one that only looks the part.

In use it shows up as one thing: it dries you, it doesn't just cover you — the loops lift water off the skin, so you can go from the shower to the kettle without reaching for a towel first. In the same vein, have a look at our luxury towelling bathrobe.

Men ask about room across the back and enough length in the sleeve before anything else, and they are right to — it is where most robes fall down. There is more of this in our mens thick dressing gown range.

• It gets softer with every wash — cotton loops open up over time — this is one of the few fabrics that is better in its second year than its first
• It handles a hot wash — the one fabric here you can wash at 60°C when someone in the house has been ill
• Cut to the ankle — cut to the ankle, it keeps the draught off the legs when you are standing at the kettle at seven in the morning, and it reads as a proper robe rather than a cover-up.
• A robe you would keep — weight, finish and detail are where the money goes on a dressing gown, and all three show from across the room

Towelling is heavy once wet, and it takes its time on the line. If you want something that dries in an hour, a waffle or a microfibre robe is the honest answer. Machine wash at 40°C, tumble dry low. Treated that way, a towelling bathrobe lasts five winters rather than one — the difference between a robe you keep on the back of the door and one you replace every autumn. On that note, see also our mens navy dressing gown range.