Peshtemal Robes and Turkish Kimonos: A Buyer’s Guide

A peshtemal robe is a Turkish towel you can wear. It uses the same flat-woven cloth as a peshtemal beach towel, sometimes all cotton and sometimes cotton mixed with linen, cut and sewn into a robe and usually finished with the same fringe. It’s much lighter than a terry bathrobe, it dries quickly on a hook, and it folds flat enough to go in a beach bag.

That’s the short version. The longer one matters if you’re about to buy, because “peshtemal robe”, “Turkish towel robe”, “Turkish cotton robe” and “kimono” get used online for very different garments. Below we go through fabric, weight, cut and sizing, using the three robes we sell from our stall in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar as examples.

How a peshtemal robe differs from a terry bathrobe

The classic hotel bathrobe is terry, a cloth covered in small cotton loops that soak up water. It’s warm and plush. It’s also heavy, and once it’s wet it stays wet for a long time.

A peshtemal is flat-woven. There are no loops, so the cloth is thinner and lighter. It takes up less water in one go than thick terry, but it lets go of that water quickly and is usually dry by the next time you reach for it. In a humid bathroom, a holiday rental or a small flat without a tumble dryer, that is the reason to own one.

The trade-off is real, and we’d rather you knew it before ordering. A peshtemal robe won’t feel like a duvet on a cold winter morning. It feels closer to a heavy shirt or a light dressing gown. For plush winter warmth, terry is the better tool. For warm months, for after the beach or the pool, for travel, or for a bathroom where towels never quite dry, flat weave makes more sense.

• Weight: a flat-woven robe is much lighter. Ours weigh 350 g and 550 g (about 12.3 oz and 19.4 oz).
• Drying: flat weave dries faster on a hook or a line.
• Packing: it folds flat and takes little room in a suitcase.
• Warmth: terry wins, clearly.

Robe or kimono: what the names usually mean

Shops use these words loosely, so trust the photos and the description over the product name. In general, a robe in this context means a bathrobe shape, often with a hood, pockets and a tie belt, sold in lettered sizes. A kimono-style robe usually has a wrap front, no hood and wider sleeves. It tends to come in one size and is often meant to be worn outside the bathroom too.

Our three pieces follow that split. The Mini Diamond Robe comes in S, M, L and XL, and its photos show a hood, a tie belt and patch pockets. The Arsemia Kimono and the Kimono Bird are each listed in one standard size. Both are belted in their photos, and neither shows a hood.

All cotton, or cotton and linen

All-cotton flat weave is soft, absorbent and familiar. It’s the right choice if the robe’s main job is drying you off after a shower or a swim. The Mini Diamond Robe is 100% cotton in a small diamond weave that gives the surface some texture.

Linen behaves differently. It feels cooler and crisper on the skin, and it dries faster than cotton. It also creases easily, which some people like and others iron away. Mixed half and half with cotton, you get a cloth that still absorbs but sits closer to a summer shirt than to a towel. Both of our kimonos, the Arsemia and the Kimono Bird, are 50% cotton and 50% linen.

Our rule of thumb: if you mostly want to dry off, go for cotton. If you want something to wear over swimwear, on a balcony or down to the café by the beach, the cotton-linen kimonos are the better fit.

Whatever you buy, read the composition line. “Turkish cotton robe” in a product title tells you nothing about fibre content. The percentages do. If a listing doesn’t give them, ask before you order.

What 350 g and 550 g tell you

Weight is one of the more useful numbers on a robe listing, and not every shop gives it. It tells you roughly how dense the cloth is and how the garment will hang.

The Kimono Bird weighs 350 g, about 12.3 oz or 0.77 lb. That’s light. It moves easily, works as a cover-up over a swimsuit and takes almost no space in a bag.

The Arsemia Kimono and the Mini Diamond Robe both weigh 550 g, about 19.4 oz or 1.2 lb. At that weight the cloth has more body. It hangs straighter and holds a little more warmth on a breezy evening, and in the Mini Diamond’s case it gives you more cotton to dry off with.

A plush terry bathrobe is typically much heavier than either. That weight is where terry’s warmth comes from, and it’s also why a terry robe takes so long to dry.

The three robes in our shop

Mini Diamond Robe (100% cotton, sizes S to XL)

The Mini Diamond Robe is the closest thing we sell to a classic bathrobe, made in peshtemal cloth. It’s 100% cotton in a light diamond weave, weighs 550 g and has knotted fringe at the hem. It comes in S, M, L and XL, in 20 colourways, each with its own stripe. The product page describes it as easy to throw on after the hammam, the beach or the morning shower, and that is how we’d use it.

Pick it if drying off is the robe’s main job and you want a hood and pockets.

Arsemia Kimono (cotton-linen, robe length)

The Arsemia Kimono takes the Arsemia beach stripe and recuts it as a robe-length kimono. It’s 50% cotton and 50% linen, weighs 550 g, comes in one standard size and is finished with hand-twisted fringe. In the photos it’s a grey and white vertical stripe with a tie belt.

The product page puts its range neatly: cool on the skin out of the sea, warm enough for the balcony after dark. Of the three, it’s the one we’d reach for on a long summer evening.

Kimono Bird (cotton-linen, the lightest of the three)

The Kimono Bird weighs 350 g, which makes it the lightest robe we sell. It’s also 50% cotton and 50% linen, in one standard size, with a woven bird motif across the back and chest. Our description calls it light enough for the beach and structured enough for the street. We think of it as a cover-up first and a towel second.

Sizing and fit

The Mini Diamond Robe is the only one of the three sold in lettered sizes. If you’re between sizes or buying a gift, message us for the measurements of the size you have in mind and we’ll send them before you order.

The two kimonos come in one standard size. A wrap front with a tie belt suits a fairly wide range of body shapes, but where the hem and the sleeves fall still depends on your height. If you’re tall, or you want to know exactly where the hem will sit, ask us for the length first.

Cotton and linen relax and soften with washing. Some shrinkage is possible with any cotton garment, especially in a hot dryer, which is one more reason to wash cool and dry on a line.

Where a peshtemal robe earns its place

• After a shower in a small bathroom. A terry robe on a hook in a steamy room can stay damp for hours. A flat-woven robe dries much sooner, so it’s less likely to go musty.
• At the beach or pool. Over a swimsuit, a light kimono is easier to walk around in than a towel, and the linen in the blends feels cool once you’re out of the water.
• In a hammam or spa. The peshtemal is the traditional cloth of the Turkish bath, so a robe made from it is right at home there.
• On the road. It folds flat, weighs well under a kilo and is usually dry by morning if you hang it up.

Caring for cotton and linen robes

Check the care label on the garment first. As general practice for flat-woven cotton and cotton-linen:

• Wash cool to warm with an ordinary detergent. Our article on the peştemal (in Turkish) notes that 30°C (86°F) with regular detergent is usually enough.
• Skip fabric softener. It coats the fibres and makes cotton less absorbent.
• Wash deep colours on their own for the first few washes in case of loose dye.
• Line dry if you can, or tumble on low heat. High heat is hard on cotton and can shrink it.
• Expect linen to crease. Shake the robe out and hang it while damp, or iron it slightly damp if you like a sharper look.
• If a knot in the fringe works loose, tie it again rather than cutting it off.

A quick way to choose

• You mostly want to dry off after the shower, with a hood and pockets: the Mini Diamond Robe.
• You want a light cover-up for the beach that you can also wear into town: the Kimono Bird.
• You want a cooler, robe-length kimono for summer evenings: the Arsemia Kimono.

Ordering from Istanbul

We ship from Istanbul to 21 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, as well as much of Western Europe. Orders go by priority shipping and should arrive in 3 to 5 working days, though customs can occasionally add a delay. Shipping is free on orders over $120, and you have 30 days to return anything that isn’t right (see our return policy). The full country list is on our shipping page, and common questions are answered in the Sık Sorulanlar.

All three robes, with every colourway, are in our robes collection.

Further reading: Turkish Towel Weight Explained: What 280 g, 400 g and 900 g Mean · How to Tell a Real Turkish Towel From an Imitation