Welcome to the world's finest towels made in Imabari, Japan. This city is located in the northern region of Ehime prefecture on Shikoku Island, home to the largest cotton-towel producing industry in Japan. Blessed with mild year-round climate and an abundance of soft water, Imabari has thrived as Japan's leader in towel production for over 120 years. In preparation for our upcoming pre-order and restock I am going to share a little more about these super special towels today.
Have you ever had an experience when you saw a shop and the second you noticed it you thought to yourself, "I am definitely going to spend some money in here." That is the exact thought I had when I encountered my first I-ori shop in Matsuyama. I was walking through a covered outdoor shopping area. These are very common in Japan and probably something we would all love to have in our neighborhoods. There is usually lots of restaurants, groceries, bakeries, butchers, fish mongers, pharmacies, and retail shopping. Some are covered and this one that I was visiting was covered and quite large. It was near the Dogo Onsen which is considered one of the oldest bathhouses in Japan and inspired the bathhouse featured in the movie Spirited Away.
In my memory of seeing this shop I don't remember if my husband was with me but I think that is just because I was so enamored with these towels that the entire world around me disappeared. I hadn't even touched them yet but I could see immediately that they were the most beautiful towels I had ever seen in my life. Once inside the shop I did touch them and learned that they are in fact considered the most absorbent and softest towels in the world.
It's funny to me now when I look back. I literally thought I was going to spend so much money but I honestly got one face towel and one mini towel. They are still my favorites and going strong nine years later. Still soft, absorbent and colorful.
When I first started this little shop I knew that one of my goals was going to be offering these towels. The problem was that all I had was these two towels with a couple of tags on them. One identified the brand which was I-ori. The other was the authentication tag. Authentic Imabari Towels are marked with the red, white, and blue imabari towel tag, proving certification by the Shikoku Towel Industry Association. This association requires all towels be put to a strict test in categories such as absorbency, durability, and color sustainability. Imabari towels are known throughout Japan as the most absorbent, finest quality towels available. It is a proud symbol of tradition, expertise, and made in Japan quality. But neither of these tags helped me locate a way to find them online. Whenever I searched for imabari towels I was just getting hits of plain colored towels. While they looked very soft and fluffy they did not have the design features of the I-ori towels. Searches for I-ori came up with nothing. Imagine in this day and age not being able to find something on the internet. It seemed impossible that I couldn't locate them but alas, I was stumped.
Let's just say that I am very grateful that I have a habit of saving shopping bags from my travels. I was going through a bag filled with all the bags I acquired when I visited Japan for the first time in 2017. Lo and behold, I found the receipt from the towel shop and right there at the top was the website address. I could not believe my eyes. I immediately went to the website and searched for information about wholesale. Sadly, I did not find any information that was promising. But as any good shop owner craving something beautiful for their shop would do I found the general inquiries email and sent a pleading email right away. After a couple of days I (finally) received a reply from dear Sakiko. Sakiko is the staff from I-ori that helps me with my orders. She is so sweet and kind and helpful. She explained to me that although I-ori did not have a wholesale policy she was very intrigued and willing to discuss the matter with her supervisor...who happened to be on vacation at the time! So I had to wait even longer. Another week. At this point I had already waited almost two years so I forced myself to be patient.
I can't truly explain how special and amazed I felt hearing back from Sakiko the following week that they were interested in working with me. That feeling has remained with me every day since. In spite of the challenges of shipping by sea mail and finding the perfect way to display them (which required having a very kind person build me a custom unit) and keeping them stocked once I started convincing people of how special they are it has truly been such an gift to be able to share these towels with you all.
As I mentioned there are lots of brands of imabari towels available from the same region of Japan. As an Imabari Towel specialty store, I-ori is dedicated to pursuing the potential of fine quality towel products as a way to enrich and brighten your daily lifestyle. Because towels are something you use everyday, they believe you should surround yourself and your loved ones with the safest, most reliable towels in the world.
The first mention of tariffs last year gutted me. Most of the products I purchased from outside the country I knew I would be able to continue acquiring. But the towels. They were first on my mind. The profit margin is quite small so adding another expense to importing these made it seem like it could be impossible for me to import them. So I braced myself for the possibility. I was very confused when the first towel order after the tariffs went in place arrived as the USPS carrier just brought them to my back door and left them. No tariff bill. Just a few very large boxes of towels. It was then that I learned that USPS is not really set up to collect tariffs! Hooray!
But then by the last week of August the news came that due to confusion of how to manage collecting tariffs Japan Post (as well as about 30 other national postal services across the world) announced that they would stop shipping to the US. This was the moment of heartbreak. Of course I was hopeful that something would happen to make this madness go away but at the moment I could not see how that was going to happen. Even when the SCOTUS decision struck down the tariffs there was still no movement by JapanPost to change their policy. Until a couple of weeks ago. Sakiko and I were quickly emailing one another celebrating the return of the most beautiful, softest, and absorbent towels in the world returning to Pink Moon Goods. And I know all of you were there with us!
I am cautiously getting a restock order in and setting up a pre-order this week. So if you have been waiting to experience the true pleasure that can come only from these towels you are in for a real treat.
We sincerely hope you enjoy the products only I-ori can provide sold exclusively in Japan, Taiwan and Dayton, Ohio at Pink Moon Goods.