Our team is dedicated to finding and telling you more about the web’s best products. If you purchase through our links, we may receive a commission. Our editorial team is independent and only endorses products we believe in.
I’m a single woman who lives alone, so, objectively, my bathroom should be an oasis. I don’t have babies or pets to bathe, I don’t have a live-in boyfriend and their particular brand of hygiene (or lack thereof) to deal with, and both the cleaning schedule and decor are up to me. And yet, it’s still one of the most difficult rooms in my apartment to deal with. Making a bathroom feel like it reflects my personal style, while keeping it a functional space, has been a challenge in every place I’ve lived.
One of the accessories I’ve successfully used to express my ~aesthetic~ in the past is a shower curtain, but my current curtain has been looking a little faded lately. Which is what led me to look for a new one, and that’s how I ended up stumbling upon Quiet Town, the modern bath accessories brand I didn’t know I needed. One of their Sun Shower curtains brought so much light and color into my bathroom it’s now my favorite room in the apartment.
We like
- Playful modern color palette with brightness and transparency
- Sturdy material made from non-chlorinated EVA
- Thick ply for a plastic curtain but still flexible
- Hand-stitched details give the curtains a high-end feel
We don't like
- Full transparency isn’t always ideal
- Final sale policy will make it hard for some buyers to commit
- Brass grommets need harder-to-find gold or brass hooks to avoid a mismatch look
Let The Light In
Kind of like Our Place for your bathroom, Quiet Town has brought high-quality production and bright, contemporary colors to the sometimes stuffy bathroom accessories space. The brand’s emphasis on sustainability was also an eye-opener for me when it comes to shopping for non-toxic plastics in product categories like shower curtains. In order to solve two problems at once—environmental and aesthetic—Quiet Town founders Michael and Lisa Fine created their long-lasting, super sturdy shower curtain out of EVA polymers that are chlorine, PVC and BPA-free.
That means the production of these particular polymers isn’t releasing more harmful, toxic chemicals into the environment when they’re produced (it also means they can be more easily recycled and reused at the end of their lifecycle—more on that later). Though Quiet Town now makes quite a few products, the Sun Shower Curtains are one of the original items from the brand, and they’re also some of the most versatile. Designed to be used either as a primary shower curtain (how I chose to use it), or as a liner for a thicker cloth curtain, these come in bright colors that are also transparent, easily solving my light issue. They have a whole array of contemporary colors to choose from, that are somehow both vivid and see-through, but I opted for Cloud, which is a peachy pink.
Unlike the thin, cheap clingy liners we’ve all bought at Target or CVS (guilty), not only does this curtain not stick to me while I’m trying to shampoo, it also doesn’t get stuck to the side of the tub when it gets wet. That’s because Quiet Town uses a thicker weight than most plastic curtains – their 12 gauge polymer is sturdy enough to block out the water from hitting my bathroom floor, and still pliable enough to let light in the rest of the time. Now, there are plenty of people who won’t like the fact that the curtain is completely transparent, and it doesn’t work for all living arrangements. In that case, Quiet Town has plenty of canvas curtain options to add on or shop for instead.
The Devil Is In The Details
Most plastic shower curtains I’ve had in the past have been tossed for two reasons: Either mold and mildew began to take hold at the bottom of the curtain, or enough of the holes in the top blew out, so the hooks could no longer hold it up anymore. As mentioned earlier, the thickness of this particular curtain solves both of those issues, particularly when it comes to the holes where the hooks slot in.
In the Quiet Town version, these are fortified with 100% brass grommets (made in Turkey), so overall sturdiness is 100% increased. And since the curtain doesn’t get stuck to the side of the tub, there’s less of a damp area, constricted for mildew to grow. These improvements help the liner last a whole lot longer, meaning less curtains need to be thrown away, and the hand stitched details and embossed QT logo also make it feel more like a permanent item you want to keep around.
One of the only other very small quibbles I could possibly find with the curtain (I’m a reviewer, trained to look for potential drawbacks) is the brass grommets might drive an OCD person crazy if they only have nickel or steel hooks. Ok, yes I’m talking about myself—I didn’t pay close enough attention to realize some of the Sun Shower colorways don’t have a choice of nickel or brass. The one I went for, Cloud, has brass grommets and I have silvery shower hooks, so while some people won’t mind this, the clashing drove me a little crazy.
Luckily, you can solve this by grabbing a set of Quiet Town’s oversized, effortlessly cool shower hooks, which come in brass or stainless steel, or simply picking a color that has the option for nickel or brass grommets. Some colors also have a length option, standard 72” x 72” as well as the longer 72” x 84” format. All of the curtain options, both the canvas or Sun Shower, have rounded edges, and the Fine’s compare this cut to old-fashioned sails, a nice connection to some of the brand’s visual nautical themes.
Shopping Small (And Local) Really Matters
In all things, the power of shopping small has stuck with me. Since the pandemic, we’ve all learned a lot more about the world of commercial production and global supply chains, and I’ve begun trying to shop with local companies whenever I can. The fact that Quiet Town is a startup run by a husband-and-wife duo definitely appealed to me. And the fact that the founders, Lisa and Michael Fine, were initially based in Brooklyn but recently relocated to the Bay Area appealed to me even more, since my own trajectory followed a similar path.
Particularly since they’re working with plastic, metal, and cloth to create home goods, small companies setting up American-made logistics in these areas can help bolster a growing movement of rediscovering and re-learning artisan practices. Accordingly, they both seek out American makers to collaborate with on additional offerings like these or connect with artisans in places like India and Portugal to create artisan rugs (woven from a yarn that’s made entirely of recycled plastic bottles) and fluffy, design-forward towels or blankets.
But one of my favorite parts of the Sun Shower curtain is that it isn’t made of cloth, and I can still get a high-end, luxurious, and chic feel. Before this, I had a super thick cloth curtain with a heavy inner lining (to protect the fabric), and the curtain was also blocking off light into the shower and that whole side of the bathroom. The cloth would also get wet and need to be laundered, and I just didn’t like the closed off vibe these two layers of fabric were giving the space.
To bring a high level of design and an element of sustainability to a plastic curtain is actually pretty inventive, so Quiet Town deserves credit for their creativity and for being a leader in the space. I’m willing to bet more brands follow suit now that the Fines have laid out the blueprint, and the Sun Shower curtains are already a best-seller, so clearly I’m not alone in wanting to ditch cloth in the shower all together. However, all of the Sun Shower curtains are final sale, which might make it hard for some buyers to pull the trigger—especially when lots of successful DTC brands have normalized free exchanges and returns, and otherwise flexible return policies.
Sustainable Next Steps
Like most great companies, Quiet Town isn’t content to sit back on their laurels now that they’ve cracked the shower curtain code. They also didn’t stop after adding curtain hooks, towels and blankets, and bathroom accessories to their repertoire. Now, their focus is on the end of a shower curtain’s lifecycle, and how to set up a sustainable recycling process for their old curtains, hopefully incorporating them into yet another boundary-pushing product for the shower experience. While they haven’t shared the details yet, the Fines have let customers know this system is a priority for them and that it’s currently in the works. And it’s this kind of forward motion that has me convinced this brand will be a cult favorite in no time.
