We at Modern Moist Towelette Collecting would like to extend a gracious thanks to all who have sent E-mail, snail-mail, and especially moist towelettes to our publication. This section highlights some of the best (or most frequently asked) questions we've received.

Permission is obtained from the originator of the question before posting, and e-mail addresses are included only if desired.

Or Send E-Mail to MoistTwl@aol.com

And Now...

Our first letter comes from Al Langlois (alangoi@remc8.k12.mi.us):

 :    Hi! When I was out west, the issue of the proper name for moist towelettes came up. Some people chose to refer to the little sanitary bundles of goodness as "Handy wipes" or "Wet Naps". Is this appropriate, or should Moist Towelettes ONLY be referred to as that? Or is it like the Kleenex conspiracy--you know, those thingies you blow your nose on AREN'T actually Kleenexes, but they are actually "Facial Tissue", because they aren't always of the Kleenex brand. Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

:    Thank you for the excellent question: Are the terms "Wet-Naps" and "Handy Wipes" acceptable in the place of the term "Moist Towelette"?

     Let me tackle them one at a time:   You are quite correct. "Wet-Nap" is the name for one of the series of towelettes from Nice-Pak, one of the foremost producers of Moist Towelettes. Due to its popularity, it has experienced a bit of what (if my memory of economics serves me) is referred to as a market monopoly, a type of pseudo-monopoly whereby the product is often referred to by a company's name for it, like the Kleenex you mentioned, Q-Tips, and Styrofoam, among others.

     Business catalogs generally refer to "Moist Towelettes" as such, but the term "wipes" is also used. Since "wipes" encompasses a larger range of products, such as alcohol wipes and baby wipes, we at MMTC prefer to use the more specific term "Moist Towelette".

Andrew Harrison from Toronto, ON, (harrison@rcc.on.ca) writes:

 :    Hi! I am a college student in Toronto, ON. I enjoy moist towelettes mainly for their smell...I love it! I was wondering if you know what type of aromatic ingredients are contained in the average towelette. Also, have the collectors had much general success finding towelettes in and around Canada? I do a fair bit of traveling, but I don't very often get offered moist towelettes (I usually camp rather than stay in motels/hotels), so I was wondering if you could offer any tips on how to start a geographically diverse collection.

:    Thanks, Andrew, for your questions. We are still trying to research what indgredients give most moist towelettes their wonderful odoriferous emanations. If any of you readers have any information regarding this, please let us know. MMTC doesn't have any towelettes in its collection with Canadian logos, but we do know that Sanfacon, a prominent manufacturer, is located in Quebec.




Special Thanks to:

Time magazine for including the site in the July 97 Digital issue.

Joel Stein of NY, NY for the Time interview.

Pat Harbron of NY, NY for the "human towelette" photo-shoot.

Ken Beer of NY, NY for being the first to send moist towelettes.

Andrew Denton of Sydney, Australia and those on his radio show team for allowing me to appear on Sydney's Andrew Denton Morning Show.

All of the following for their contributions:

Brian Kilganan from Sanfacon in Quebec, Canada

Mindy Weiser of Las Vegas, Nevada

Harvey Fenton of Newtonville, MA

Michael Balboa from NY, NY and many other places

Anthony Savini of Bay Shore, NY

Mary Roush of Wilmington, DE

Joe Vella of Fairview Park, OH

Dan Wassmann of Glenview, IL

Laura of Lomita, CA

Gary of New York, NY

Steve Colf (Adventurer) of Newhall, CA

Peter Koeppel of Chapel Hill, NC

Peter Simpson of Werrington, Australia

Wanda Muesil of Dixon, IL

Daniel Rindsberg of Staten Island, NY

Elizabeth Collins of Vancouver, BC

Catherine Loy of Minneapolis, MN

Brian Callahan of Indianapolis, IN

BC of Seattle, WA

Bill Steele at Wipeables for the prototype towelette cotainers

John Wadsworth of San Francisco, CA

Bryan Kornreich of Charlottesville, VA

Marco Balestrin of St. Marys, ON

Timothy Brock of National Towelette Company for the unique and hilarious towelettes

Marc Deslauriers of Sanfacon for the generous towelette donations

Jonas Robertsson of Stockholm, Sweden

Drew Maygrew of Provo, UT

Garci Jackson of Mesa, AZ

Sean Sherman of Remington Industries

Ray Clark of Chicago, IL

Rodney Adkins of Middlesboro, KY

Caitlin of Pinky's Souveneir Land in Long Beach, CA

Others whose names are coming soon (if I've forgotten you, I'm very sorry, please let me know)


Family and Friends of MMTC in FL for gathering towelettes whenever possible.