Patent Application : Multi-layers compressed fabrics (Woven fabrics characterized by the special disposition of the warp or weft threads) (D03D13/00)

Year : 1968

Nation : Republic of Korea

Region : Busan

Name : Pil-gon Kim (Hanil fabric)

Many public facilities are shutting down due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19. Among them public baths are typical public facilities. In Korea we have a custom that father and son scrub their back together at public baths and especially these days we miss the green scrubbing towels. In today’s IP Encyclopedia we are going to look into the highlight of public bath ‘Italian towel’ the intellectual property only existing in Korea not in Italy.

If you were a man who was born before 2010s you would have the experience of public baths. I mean the experience of going to the public baths with your dad or friends and soaking your body by getting into the hot water and scrubbing each other’s back sitting on a low chair. It has become hard to find nowadays but in 1990s the popularity of public baths was quite high.

The bathing culture in Korea pretty much goes back to the past. The Korean Peninsula had been affected by Buddhism for a long time. Therefore due to the Buddhism culture of cleaning their bodies bathing culture has been existed since long time ago. According to the ‘Samgungnyusa’ (The Three Korean Kingdoms) there is a record of prime minister of Shilla taking a bath in Dongnae hot spring in 683 and the ground assumed as a public bath in the Silla Dynasty has found in Anapji Pond in Gyeongju. Since then it has been continuing to the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty.


According to the ‘Goryeodogyeong’ (Illustrated Account of Goryeo) written by Seogeung a civil servant in the Song Dynasty of China there is a record saying that ‘Goryeo people take a bath three or four times a day and men and women take a bath together in a large stream in Gaeseong’. Especially in the Joseon Dynasty there were indoor public baths called ‘Jeongbang’ in temples. The people at that time took a bath in the temples where they have been visiting regularly.

In the case of ‘Onyang’ in which is known for hot springs it had been conveyed that the loyal family often visited to enjoy the hot spring baths and even built a temporary palace in there. According to the ‘Bongsangyokhaengnok’ (Record of a Hot Spring in Dongnae) in 1671 the record says that too many people were visiting ‘Onjeongwon’ the hot spring in Onyang at that time and there was a short supply of it and had to rebuild it several times. But it was not a public facility until that time and people did not take a shower or bath often if they are not a Yangban (Noble).


Along the way as the Japanese public bath culture introduced to Korea during the Japanese colonial era today’s public bath culture has been established. Especially in Busan which is close to Japan started blooming the hot spring culture. In 1909 the train to Dongnae where the hot springs are located from the downtown in Busan where many of Japanese settled down had been set up.

Unlike the Japanese public bath culture which is taking a bath in naked in Korea a full bath was considered on special days at that time and due to the Confucianism exposing their naked body was avoided. So the first public bath facility was built in Seoul in 1925 but it had to take some time to settle down.

After the independence most of the vestiges of Japanese imperialism were gone but the public bath culture remained. In 1960s Korea had its own distinct feature which is a scrub culture. The job called ‘Sesin-sa’ which means a professional scrubber that scrubs entire body in a public bath appeared and the green towel that is famous as a bath supply was also introduced. That is ‘Italian towel’.


The Italian towel was invented by Pil-gon Kim who was living in Busan in 1968. He got an Italian fabric viscose rayon from one of his relatives who was running imported textile factory and used it as a towel. He enjoyed visiting the public bath as usual and got out of a hot tub. He was rubbing his body with the Italian towel to dry himself and found the dead skins falling out of his body. Immediately he went to the sewing machine with the fabric and made a small hand sized pocket and this is the origin of Italian towel.

He developed a scrubbing towel named ‘Multi-layers compressed fabrics’ and applied for patent in 1968 and after that he developed a scrubbing towel with additional functions over 4 times. Unfortunately his related patents had been expired in 1976 and anyone can make Italian towels now. So far many scrubbing towels with various functions have been applied for patents not just for public baths but also for home use.


At the time of the development the viscose rayon was a suitable for scrubbing body due to its strong frictional force. Scrubbing body and peel off the dead skin were annual events for holidays. However since the introduction of Italian towel more and more people visited public baths and scrubbing body has become more frequent from once or twice a year to once a week. Italian towels were hit and sold on a nationwide scale and he became rich enough to buy two hotels in Busan. It was literally a fortune.

In fact it is a fabric imported from Italy but it is not used for scrubbing body in Italy they do not even have a custom of scrubbing body. There is one country that has a scrubbing culture similar to Korea it is Morocco in North Africa.


Morocco is a nation where affected by Arab. For religious reasons there is a bath culture called ‘Hammam’ which means a public bath. In Morocco they must clean their body first in Hammam to bow to the God ‘Allah’ and for this they use ‘Kessa glove’ which is just like Italian towel in Korea to scrub their body.

Of course in scientific perspectives dead skins are keratin layers protecting our skins. Immoderate scrubs damage the protection layers and make skins dry and rough and it produces the protection layers quickly. When a habit like peeling off their dead skins are repeated ultimately dermatitis can be caused and it can be a reason that increases the probability of dermatopathy such as allergy and skin cancer.

Irritating your skins is not healthy in any circumstances. It is apposite to soak your body in warm water and scrub it smoothly. Proper scrubs activate metabolism improve blood circulation and prevent aging. It is hard to go to the public baths these days. Let’s prepare scrubbing towels and make healthy and elastic skins with a proper scrubbing habit once in months.

