HIPPOPOTAMUS｜ORGANIC TOWELS

Brand

Feel the exotic colors as if traveling the world

HIPPOPOTAMUS

• 2007
• Organic Towel
• Kiyoaki Sadate

History

Turning organic towels into art

Hippopotamus is an organic towel brand founded in 2007.

At the time, white and beige were the most common colors for high-end and organic towels made in Japan.

The priority for such towels was to maintain quality in order to compete with inexpensive foreign towels, and there was no question that the towels were colorless and lacked a sense of fun.

However, our founder, who grew up in Paris, came up with the idea of giving towels a story through design and color—just like fashion—while pursuing functionality and environmental friendliness.

By putting his soul into colors from his unique perspective, he wanted to add essence to Japanese manufacturing and create a brand that could compete overseas.

Characteristic

A unique color story

The production of Hippopotamus towels began with a journey to find colors scattered around the world.

The debut color and the face of the brand is a dark blue inspired by Van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night.

We wanted to somehow express this night sky, which is three-dimensional and full of dynamism thanks to the unique touch of layered oil paint, so we decided to use our ingenuity in the fiber.

By interweaving organic cotton with bamboo rayon and utilizing different dye densities, we were able to create complex shades of color with shadows.

Other vivid and unique colors, such as the green of Gauguin's beloved Tahiti and the pink of Marie Antoinette's noble roses, were also completed.

Storytelling color has become the brand's most distinctive feature.

For Customers

Towels with inspiring colors and a refreshing touch

Hippopotamus towels are "human- and earth-friendly towels" that pursue a commitment to quality and manufacturing processes.

The raw material, organic cotton, meets international standards for organic fiber from the cotton fields to the spinning mills.

Bamboo rayon, a regenerated fiber made from eco-friendly materials, is woven into this towel, which is said to have not only high moisture absorbency but also the luster of silk and the feel of cashmere.

Bamboo, which regenerates in a shorter cycle than trees in typical forests, is also attracting attention as an eco-material.

The towels are dyed in vivid colors and washed for as long as 5 hours using soft water from the underground of Mt.Ishizuchi in Shikoku, which has hardly any impurities, resulting in a soft texture that is safe even for a baby’s sensitive skin.

The wastewater from the manufacturing process is treated with bacteria to ensure environmental friendliness, and has passed rigorous analysis tests for more than 350 harmful chemical substances.

We hope you will enjoy our towels that add color to your daily life with their safe and reliable quality and unique colors with a story to tell.

We also recommend these towels as a gift for birthdays and for people with babies.

Award

March 2013　Winner of the Department Store Buyers Award and Best Seller Award