The out-of-plane compressibility of kitchen towels is a very important product property in order to achieve a high absorption capacity. A method for the measurement of the compressibility was therefore developed. It allows the compression of a tissue sample by a defined pressure in the range between 0 and 30 kPa. The thickness of the sample is measured. Both single-ply base paper samples and fully converted multi-ply products can be evaluated. The measurement can be performed on both dry or wet samples. Multiple compressions of the samples can also be performed in order to evaluate the difference in plastic deformation as a result of consecutive compressions. Under normal conditions, the applied pressure is gradually increased from 0 to 30 kPa and then decreased back to 0 kPa. This procedure can then be repeated. The compressibility of the sample was evaluated in terms of a bulk versus applied pressure.The compressibility of different tissue grades was evaluated and compared. A clear difference in compressibility between standard DCT and structured tissue samples was observed. The first compression cycle lead to a considerable irreversible, plastic deformation of the sample. The plastic deformation decreased then considerably during the consecutive compression cycles. Wetting the samples lead to a considerable decrease in compressibility. The results allow interesting conclusions in terms of the influence of base sheet production process and the converting processes on the absorption properties.