China’s Standardization Administration has put into effect its new, updated national product standard for towels – GB/T 22864-2020.

The standard applies to all kinds of woven towel products made from textile fibers, but does not include:
• Microfiber towels
• Single-use towels

The main technical contents of the standard are:
• General safety technical requirements shall conform to GB 18401 and GB 31701 (products for infant and children)
• Internal quality includes weight deviation ratio, breaking force, water absorbency, ratio of fiber falls off, fiber content tolerance and color fastness (washing, rubbing and chlorine bleaching) and water extraction material (detailed in Table 1 of the standard)
• Appearance quality includes size deviation ratio, defects, sewing quality and press quality (detailed in Table 2)

The updated version, which replaces GB/T 22864-2009, includes several changes.

Additions include:
1. Requirement to conform to GB 31701 for infants and children towels
2. Requirement for superior grade water extraction material
3. Do not test breaking force for small size products
4. Appearance requirement for the thread ends on the four edge seams
5. Test method for water extraction material

Revisions have also been made to the:

1. Applicable scope
2. Normative references
3. Technical requirements for appearance quality
4. Test method for weight deviation ratio
5. Sampling position for water absorbency
6. Test method for fiber content
7. Instruction for use
8. Appendix A (2009 edition) are adjusted to informative appendix

The new national standard came into effect on September 1, 2020.

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