I always wash towels before I use them, first in just plain water, then I run them through a wash.  It took me 12 runs with just plain water for the sudsing was severe.  There must have been some kind of chemical coating on the towel for this to have happened.  Once I finally got to the wash part, I did wash, then dried, but the black background had already faded from black to brown. I dried to two towels together and it took about an hour and there was definite shrinkage.  Not as thick as I would have liked.

Design is gorgeous, price was great and washes perfect!