Men's long hooded 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. Cotton is the natural fibre everything else is measured against: it breathes, it takes a hot wash, and it does not hold on to smells the way a synthetic does. That is the difference between a cotton robe and one that only looks the part.

In use it shows up as one thing: it breathes properly — no clamminess after twenty minutes, which is what makes it the sensible choice for a warm bedroom. For more on this, browse our extra long mens dressing gowns.

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. In the same vein, have a look at our extra long dressing gown.

• It takes a hot wash — 60°C when it needs it, without the fabric giving up
• It stays comfortable against skin all day — the reason it is the default for anyone with sensitive skin
• 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 hood on a robe — it keeps wet hair off the shoulders and off the back of the neck, which is the single thing that makes a robe worth keeping on after a bath

Cotton creases, and it takes longer to dry than a synthetic. Neither matters much on a dressing gown, but it is worth knowing before you buy. Machine wash at 40°C. Treated that way, a cotton 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 dark grey dressing gown range.