Thank you to the staff at Valet Magazine for featuring Deck Towel and making founder Buck Ellison sound like such a nerd!

For some young men, the weeks before graduating college is a time for day drinking and stressing over job interviews. But for Buck Anthony Ellison, who just graduated from Columbia University, it was a time to blow off a little steam by making some handsome, oversized linen towels he calls Deck Towels. "I had made myself some for camping trips because linen is lighter, more compact and—contrary to popular belief—50% more absorbent and faster drying than cotton." And unlike cotton, the soft linen also stays free of sand, dirt and odors. But order fast, the first set of towels, sourced from an Italian mill that recently closed, is selling out quickly. But now that Ellison has some free time, he's crafting a second set which will be released in June.

$40 to $80 at Deck Towel

• Linen gets softer with each wash.