What is Pilling, and How Can it Be Prevented?

Those irritating little fuzz balls on your sweatshirt are known as “pilling.” This can be frustrating, as clothes containing a great amount of pilling can make them look old, ratty, or worn.

Whether you’re a business owner who wants to show customers how to care for their bulk white zip-up hoodies, or a shopper who wants to know how to care for your sweaters, there are some simple steps you can take to prevent pilling.

To help keep your garments looking as good as new — or to bring back life to worn clothes that are covered in a considerable amount of pills — we’ve got some tips to help. It’s important, though, to first understand exactly what pilling is and what causes it.

What Is Pilling?

If you’ve ever washed, dried, or worn a garment and noticed those unsightly little balls form on the surface, that’s pilling. It’s small fibers of the clothing that form into balls or clumps on the garment.

Even with lint rolling your sweater or sweatshirt, you may notice that the pills don’t completely go away.

Pilling can be unsightly, annoying, and equally, can make your clothes look worn or cheap.

What Causes Pilling?

Pilling happens when the clothing fibers get rubbed over time, and they form into small clumps on the surface of the garment. Small fibers break off and clump together in tiny knots.

This can happen in areas that get a lot of friction, like the underarms or between the pant legs. It can also happen anywhere on the garment.

Pilling can occur from wear over a long period. Cleaning clothes in the washer and dryer can cause increased pilling. Garments rubbing against one another irritates the fibers, causing them to clump together.

How to Reduce Pilling

Now that you know what pilling is, you may be wondering how you can avoid it. Luckily, there are several steps that you can take to keep your garments from pilling.

Turn Garments Inside Out When Washing

Because pilling is caused by friction and abrasion to the fabric, the best ways to reduce it are to minimize the wear on the fabric.

One great way to minimize that wear is to turn your garments inside out when washing them. This means the side of the fabric that’s visible will not rub against other clothes, hence protecting the material.

If pilling does occur from washing, it will happen more on the inside of the garment that’s not visible when worn.

Air Dry Your Clothes

Air drying your clothes not only puts less stress on the fabric by not using heat, but it also prevents it from tumbling against other materials, lessening the risk of pilling.

Choosing to air dry your clothes generally extends the life of the garments and is gentler on the fabric over time.

Mindfully Choose Fabrics

Certain kinds of materials are more susceptible to pilling. Cotton knit t-shirts have far less pilling than cotton-poly knit sweaters.

Pilling happens for a variety of reasons. Generally the main reason is that fabrics with tighter knits (like t-shirts) are less likely to pill than looser knits (like sweaters). Woven fabrics are also far less likely to pill than knits.

Certain fabrics may also pill more than others. Some of the least likely materials to pill include silk and linen. Some fabric blends may also pill more, especially if the blend is made from one fiber that is stronger than the other.

In cotton and polyester blends, the polyester may be more likely to pill and make the pills harder to remove.

It’s best to choose fabrics made from a blend of quality materials, to ensure minimizing pilling. Higher quality fabrics like those Bella + Canvas uses will be less likely to pill — especially when you take steps to prevent pilling.

How to Remove Pilling from Clothes

In in worse case scenario that your clothes do pill, there are steps that you can take to remove the little fabric balls.

Use a Hand Razor

A disposable razor will do a good job of removing pills. Place the fabric on a flat surface, and pull the material taut. Then, gently move the razor over the surface of the fabric.

This should remove most of the pesky pills that you can then gladly toss into the trash.

Use a Fabric Shaver

A fabric shaver works similarly to a hand razor. However, it has rotating blades and a cover over the blades. This will work quicker and generally will pick up more pills. This is great if you have an item with a large amount of pilling, or there are a number of items that you want to give renewed life to by removing the pills.

Use a Sweater Stone

A sweater stone is a special kind of stone with pores that shave off fibers from fabrics. When you apply it across the pills on the fabric, they should come right off.

Sweater stones are designed to be used on knits, so these are typically Aideal garments on which the stones will work best.

Prevent Pilling and Keep Your Garments Looking New

Unfortunately, as you wear clothes, over time some level of pilling may be unavoidable. You may begin to notice little knots of fabric, particularly in areas where the fabric frequently gets rubbed or gets a lot of wear.

By knowing what pilling is, caring for your clothes, and minimizing the amount of abrasion to the fabric, you can minimize the amount of pilling that can occur over time. When pilling does occur, these are some of the easy ways to rid your clothes of it.