Women's long waffle bathrobe, lightweight

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. Waffle is cotton woven into a honeycomb grid. The pockets in the weave hold air and water at the same time, so it absorbs like towelling while weighing a fraction of it. That is the difference between a waffle robe and one that only looks the part.

In use it shows up as one thing: it absorbs without the bulk — the reason spas and hotels use it: it works after a shower and still folds flat. That is also what our lilac dressing gown range is for.

Women ask about the cut through the shoulder and where the belt sits at the waist before anything else, and they are right to — it is where most robes fall down. The same need shows up in our ladies summer dressing gown.

• Dry in an hour or two — the open weave means air gets through, so it is ready again the same morning
• It packs down to almost nothing — which makes it the one that goes in the suitcase
• 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.
• Belt loops that hold the belt — a small thing, and the first thing missing on a cheap robe

Waffle is not a warm fabric. In a cold house you will want fleece over the top of it — this one is built for the bathroom, not the sofa in December. Machine wash at 40°C and line dry. Treated that way, a waffle 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 lightweight dressing gown range.