I have the Chris Madden Hotel Collection towels and love them. They are big, fluffy, reasonably priced, and so soft. They wash nicely too. AND, they match the Buxton Blue paint in my bathroom perfectly (the Seamist color is an exact match)! I was able to purchase all my towels in-store. I had to order the bath mats though because they didn't have any in the Seamist color.

My only complaint would be that they don't have enough colors in this particular line. I would have liked a celery green as well for a complementary color.

Here is a link that might be useful: Towels

Also take a look at TJMaxx, Ross or Marshalls. They have gorgeous (sometimes really high end) towels at good prices.

Tuesday Morning also has a nice selection.

I LOVE the Chris Madden Spa collection. We have been using the same set for over 5 years, they are still fluffy and have no fraying or wear at all. I even have a spare set ready for when these wear out, but it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon!

You can usually get the bath towels for $9-10 each on sale, just watch the newspaper circulars.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chris Madden towels

I use to purchase JC Penney towels and thought they were really nice. Then I purchased some Sferra towels from their web site (they are still on sale 50% off for white), and I'll never go back to a JC Penney towel. LOL Those Sferra towels are so absorbent and soft. Just a really nice experience.

I've always bought JCPenney towels--for the ease of shopping (catalog) and the huge color selection. Last year, I replaced 10-yr-old JCP towels (and rugs) in order to change the color in my master bath. The old towels are still decent, but "thin"--but gee, how long are they supposed to last? What I bought this time is from the Chris Madden collection because they had the purple I wanted. The previous towels were probably JCP's mid-line towel--not the cheapest, but the one with the biggest selection of colors. I always waited for a good sale before buying, too.

I'm sure there are better, nicer, fluffier towels out there, but JCP is fine for me. As long as the towels do their job (and hold up over time) and don't feel too thin or like sandpaper on my skin--and don't take forever to dry in the dryer--I'm good.

Here is an interesting comparison from Good Housekeeping.
Towels -- Don't Fall for the Fluff
(I'm not sure of the date on this).

You don't have to get soaked to buy a luxurious bath towel. Absorbency, fluffiness and enduring good looks often have little to do with price tag, report GH Research Institute textile experts, who recently put a closetful of the most popular brands through a series of tough tests.

The winner: Lands' End Super Supima Cotton ($16).
High score, low price: JC Penney Home ($7.99).

hth, Lena

We have always had Lands End towels at our summer place, where they get a LOT of use, and they are fantastic. I always buy them from the Overstock dept. -- not always the greatest color selection, but I just got all ivory and gray last time.

Here's another vote for the JCPenney Hotel collection. They are really soft and absorbent but I have to agree with fivefootzero that their color selection is very limited.

I've got the JCPenney Home Collection. I just liked the color and the feel. I've used them for 2 years and so far so good. They wash up nice and fluffy and no wear or fraying yet.

I really don't like the "soft' velvety towels for my personal use as I feel like they do not absorb water. I have very thick hair so I like a towel that takes all the moisture possible from my hair. I buy all white towels, whether or expensive or not. The towels i keep in the linen closet are cheap as dirt white towels from Wal-Mart and I buy towels and bath cloths en masse (about 60 bath cloths at one shopping experience and multiples of their towels for personal use) but I buy the show-and-tell white towels from Horchow with the monogram. I wash them once a month if they are not used, which they usually are not as we do not have that many overnight guests. My husband likes the soft, velvety show-and-tell towels so I buy for his bathroom at Tuesday Morning, but we still have the white monogram towels for show-and-tell when guests are coming. :)