Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

i'm compelled to write my first review in my more-than-a-decade on amazon. this blanket (in its current version) is truly awful. i've loved the vellux brand my whole life. i had my last (good) vellux blanket since the 90s and only got rid of it as a result of an unfortunate dog-and-skunk incident. the martex label (currently owned by 'westpoint home') is now made in china (despite westpoint's claims and according to the tag on the blanket itself). it's significantly thinner than its older, american counterpart. that spongy foam feeling that the old blankets had? gone. worse yet is the smell. the new blankets reek of formaldehyde. the smell does *not* wash out -- which is curious because the *entire rest of the blanket* did. a single laundering was enough to destroy the new martex vellux blanket. what happens is that the nylon flocking comes completely undone from the paper-thin foam core in little, smelly fabric pills that get all over the washer. the remainder of the blanket pills up and falls off in the (no heat!) dry cycle. all that was left of my first westpoint martex vellux blanket (moss green, if it matters) was the flimsy grid and a few bits of formaldehyde-smelling nylon. because i have so greatly loved this product in the past, and because this particular blanket was so easily and weirdly destroyed, i re-ordered it -- a replacement for my replacement. i counted on this whole situation as having been just an awful fluke. nope. westpoint martex vellux blanket #2 fared no better. in fact, westpoint martex vellux blanket #2 broke my dryer. maybe i'm a chump, but it's only because i am so very loyal to the blanket of my youth (and twenties). i'd even be willing to try a vellux blanket again someday, so long as it's not westpoint's mertex vellux (manufactured in china). a complete disappointment.