Cloth napkins are bought on price per unit and then lived with for years. These four decisions are what decide the years.

Decide the fibre by whether you press

This is the whole fork in the road. Spun polyester never needs pressing, holds its colour through bleach, and lasts. It also repels water and attracts oil, which is backwards for a napkin.

Cotton and cotton-rich blends absorb immediately and let go of grease in a hot wash. They also crease, shrink and require a press or a flatwork ironer. If you have the equipment, buy cotton-rich. If you do not, buy spun polyester knowingly rather than because a supplier told you it was “premium”.

Ask for the percentage, not the word

“Poly-cotton” is not a specification. A fifty-fifty blend and an eighty-twenty blend behave differently in absorbency, in creasing and in how they take a dye.

If a supplier will not give you the split, they either do not know or do not want you comparing it. Put it on the quote and the comparison becomes possible.

The weave decides whether a fold stands

Rooms blame their team when folded napkins slump. It is almost never the folding. A soft plain weave in a light weight will collapse whatever anybody does to it.

A damask — a figured weave with long floats — holds a crease far better in the same fibre and weight. A woven satin band gets you most of the effect for much less. Both are woven, so they survive the laundry; a printed “damask look” does not.

Never accept a serged hem

Napkins take the hottest, most aggressive wash in the building and the load concentrates at the corners. A serged edge frays there within months, and a frayed napkin cannot go back out on a table.

A double-turned hem with mitred corners and a lockstitch costs a little more per unit and changes how long the stock lasts. It is the cheapest upgrade on this page.

Buy to the finished size, not the cut size

Cotton-rich cloth shrinks on its first industrial wash, and the fold you are planning depends on the size you end up with. A fold that needs a large napkin will simply stop working after laundering if you ordered to the cut size.

Tell your supplier which folds your room uses and let them work backwards. We quote both numbers as standard.