Do You Need a Yoga Mat Towel? Yogitoes vs Equa

A yoga mat towel does one job. It solves sweat on a mat that cannot absorb sweat, and it does that job very well.

It does not solve every kind of slipping. That is the part worth knowing before you buy one, and the clearest statement of it comes from a company that sells towels.

Do you need one? Ask where the slipping comes from

You slip once you start sweating. Yes, a towel is your fix. This is the closed-cell problem our buying guide describes: closed-cell surfaces shed moisture, so sweat sits on top and grip falls away as the class warms up. That guide puts PVC and TPE mats on that side of the line, and four of the five mats in Manduka’s own range are closed-cell, including the famous PRO.

You slip from the first pose, with dry hands. Probably not. Manduka’s own guide to hot yoga towels is direct about it: if there is no moisture present, adding a towel may not improve traction “and can sometimes make slipping worse”. It points instead at mat care, hand lotion, the room and technique. Our mat-care guide adds one cause worth ruling out first: soap left on the mat after cleaning, which leaves a slick film.

You slip only at the hands, or only at the feet. A hand towel may be all you need. Manduka says many people use one under the hands in downward dog or under the feet in standing poses.

Your mat is open-cell and grips better as it gets damp. You need one far less, because the mat is already doing the towel’s job.

There is one more reason to own one that has nothing to do with grip. Manduka describes a towel as a hygienic layer over a studio mat, and our cleaning guide says the same: if you use loaner mats regularly, a towel laid over the top settles the hygiene question and gives you a better surface than a well-used loaner.

Mat towel or hand towel

	Full mat towel	Hand towel
Covers	the whole mat	where your hands or feet land
Best for	hot classes, heavy sweat over a whole practice	sweaty palms, power and vinyasa
Carry	about a pound, rolled or folded	small and light

That split is Manduka’s. Its guide calls the full mat towel the one for hot yoga and high-sweat sessions, and the hand towel the one for when grip starts to fade in the hands. Our buying guide gives the same answer for hot practice: an open-cell mat, or a mat towel laid over whatever you own.

Yogitoes vs Equa, as Manduka specifies them

Manduka makes two mat towels, and it is unusually clear about which is which.

	Yogitoes	Equa
Material	30% recycled polyester, 60% polyester, 10% nylon	80% polyester, 20% nylon microfibre
Underside	patented silicone nubs	no nubs listed
Sweat level, per Manduka	heavy; its most absorbent	light to moderate
Grip	builds as moisture builds	starts with light moisture
Feel	textured	soft, suede-like
Standard size	71 × 24 in, 1 lb	71 × 24 in, 1 lb
Other sizes	79 × 24, 71 × 26, 85 × 26 in	79 × 24 in, and a 26.5 in wide version
Washing	machine, cold	machine, cold
Price, 16 Oct 2026	$72 to $78	$46 to $50 (one size marked down to $40)

Specs are from Manduka’s product pages and its store listing, read on 16 October 2026. Prices change, so check the live price on each towel’s page.

Yogitoes: the heavy-sweat towel

Manduka’s own advice is that if your practice “regularly involves heavy sweat”, Yogitoes is the one, because it offers the highest absorbency of its towels. Its textured surface grips harder as moisture builds, and the patented silicone nubs on the underside are what hold it on the mat. Manduka says they stop it bunching or shifting during transitions. It is made partly from recycled polyester.

It is also the towel the FAQ on Manduka’s PRO and PROlite pages names for anyone who sweats on those mats, and the one our Manduka range guide points to.

Equa: the softer, cheaper towel

Equa is microfibre, and Manduka describes it as soft, lightweight, quick-drying and easy to pack. Its grip starts with very little moisture, which is why Manduka suggests it for light to moderate sweat and for anyone who prefers a softer feel. Manduka also sells it as something to use beyond the mat, for travel and the gym.

It is the cheaper of the two, by $26 in the standard size, and it is the towel our buying guide names as the inexpensive fix for a slippery mat.

Which one, by practice

• Hot yoga, or you sweat heavily in any class. Yogitoes. Manduka’s most absorbent towel, and the nubs keep it from shifting during transitions.
• Vinyasa, power or a warm room, light to moderate sweat. Equa. Grip comes on with less moisture, and it costs less.
• A towel for travel and loaner mats as much as for sweat. Equa, which Manduka pitches for travel as well as the studio, at the lower price. In the standard size the two weigh the same, about a pound.
• Only your palms slip. A hand towel first, before either of these.

How to use one

• Wash it before the first use. Manduka says so for Yogitoes, and darker colours can shed excess dye at first.
• Lay it over the mat. For Yogitoes, Manduka says to put it dot-side down, either on the mat or directly on the floor.
• Mist it if you want grip straight away. Manduka suggests lightly misting the areas under your hands and feet before class. Some people prefer to start dry and let sweat do it.
• Don’t roll a damp towel up inside the mat. Manduka warns against rolling the mat and towel together when damp, and our mat-care guide explains why: a mat rolled damp is how the smell you cannot get rid of starts.

How to wash one

Both towels have the same instructions on Manduka’s pages.

• Machine wash cold with like colours.
• Tumble dry low, or hang it to dry.
• No bleach, dryer sheets, fabric softener, or detergents that contain softener. Manduka says they reduce grip, which is the one thing the towel is for.
• Expect some dye at first from darker colours, which may need several washes. Manduka advises care when practising on a light-coloured mat or in light-coloured clothes.

The towel going in the washing machine is a large part of its value: our cleaning guide calls it the single best thing you can do for a mat’s lifespan in a hot room, because the towel takes the sweat and the mat needs far less cleaning.

A towel, or a different mat?

If your only complaint is grip when you sweat, a towel is the cheaper answer. At the prices above, a standard Equa costs well under half of any PRO mat Manduka lists, and it fixes the problem on the mat you already own.

If you practise hot most days, there is a second answer: an open-cell mat that grips harder as it gets damp. Our Manduka range guide covers the one in that range, and the buying guide covers the materials in general.

What we can tell you, and what we cannot

We have not practised on these towels. Nobody here owns a Yogitoes or an Equa, and we are not going to write a hands-on verdict we have not earned. If you want a tested comparison, sites that test gear properly are the better source.

Every specification on this page is Manduka’s own, from its product pages, its store listing and its guide to hot yoga towels, and the advice on which towel suits which practice is Manduka’s stated position rather than ours. What we have added is the question that comes before either towel: whether sweat is what is making you slip. If it is not, the most useful thing on this page is that a towel will not fix it.

Links to Manduka on this page pay us a commission if you buy through them. Our gear page lists the other Manduka products we link to, and the studio directory lists LA studios by neighbourhood and style, including the hot ones. Studios that run heated classes usually rent towels too, and it is normal to ask at the desk.