Paper towels are most certainly NOT lint free. If you're talking about for stuff like applying ASII, I use coffee filters. They're cheap and lint free, work great for applying grease or cleaning CPUs ...

Protect your eyeglasses and clear vision by using special optic cleaning cloths to remove smudges since microfiber cloths can cause delicate scratches on special anti-reflective and mirror coatings.

If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to pull out the mop and bucket, give your kitchen or bathroom floors a quick clean ...

It's far more likely most people simply bought it because it was new to the Apple Store. For most Apple screens, a decent-quality microfiber cleaning cloth is all you'll need to clean your screen.