Pilling clothes: How to prevent and how to treat?

What is pills?

Little fluff or balls on your sweater, which seem to come out of nowhere and only increase in number, is called pilling. Super annoying when this happens on your favorite sweater. Could you have prevented this from happening? In this blog you will read how pilling occurs, how to prevent pilling and how to get rid of it in a quick and effective way.

How do clothes pill?

Pilling occurs due to friction of the material; the fibers in the fabric wrap around each other on the surface, creating small balls of fabric. Therefore, when wearing clothing, pellets are more likely to form in areas such as under the arms, or on the chest or sleeves. Lint also forms during washing, as the clothing spins in the washing machine and repeatedly rubs against other clothing.

Which substances go pill fastest?

Wool, acrylic, polyester and viscose are materials in which pilling is common. Around the armpits and at the elbows, the first pilling usually occurs. Do you often carry a shoulder bag over your wool coat? Then you will discover lint where the bag touches your hip or leg.

If my clothes start pilling is the quality bad?

No, clothes of both sublime and lesser good quality can suffer from pilling. This is not an indicator of quality.

However, the price you pay for textiles can sometimes, but not always, be an indicator of fiber quality. Longer threads and fibers don't pill as much as shorter ones. In the manufacturing process, longer fibers can get damaged and break down. These are then mixed with the shorter fibers and made into cheaper fabrics. The unbroken long fibers increase the value of the clothing and thus the price.

Both fabrics (natural fibers and those made from synthetic fibers) can suffer from lint. The length of the fiber in the material is the key here, rather than the type of material or its origin.

What can you do to avoid pills?

Clothes that start pilling look a bit untidy and unkempt, which is an awful waste and unnecessary. A few simple tips to prevent pilling on wool garments:

Before using a new wool sweater, put it in the freezer for a while. A few hours or overnight, wrapped in a plastic bag.
Wash wool clothing in a laundry bag
Use liquid wool detergent.
Wash your clothes inside out
Select a short wash program.
Close zippers or buckles on your clothes before washing them.
Let the garment dry outdoors. Preferably do not put the washed item in the dryer.
Fold your clothes neatly, instead of hanging clothes.
Follow the wash and dry program as indicated in the label.

Do you wash the garment by hand? Then don't rub the suds into your clothing, but squeeze the suds through the fabric. This will prevent the garment from pilling or worse, stretching.

How can you remove pills from fabrics?

The finest way to remove lint is with a lint clipper. These work on batteries or with a charging cord, and work on all materials. Corded clippers are the most powerful and you don't have to worry about changing batteries.

An ontpluizer is a shaver made specifically for clothing. An ontpluizer is also called a lint clipper, de-piller or fabric shaver. A lint clipper has larger holes in its "sliding surface" where lint is pulled in through, and a blade then removes it safely for the fabric. Just like hairs on your body are shaved off with clippers. Any hairs (and in this case, lint) that stick out are easily and safely removed.

Don't feel like buying a depilator? Then you will also come a long way with a razor blade. Because a new razor blade is razor sharp, an older razor blade is our preference. Place the item on a smooth surface to avoid shaving away too much locally. Take extra care with this. A fabric shaver is really made and designed to safely shave fabrics, a razor blade is actually not 100% designed for this, so watch a little extra for the fabric. Pull a razor gently and with small movements across the fabric. Carefully shave over a piece of smoothly pulled fabric and avoid moving the razor over creases. If you don't pull the fabric smoothly you are likely to shave material off your clothing, instead of just lint.

You can also use scissors to cut or trim off lint balls. Be careful, though, and make sure you don't cut holes in your clothing. Use sharp scissors to cut off each lint individually. This can be time-consuming, but if done properly, it is the method that is least damaging to the surrounding fabric. The kind of scissors (large or small) you use don't matter much, as long as they are sharp. Longer scissors allow you to take larger pieces at once, but creates more risk of cutting into the clothing. Smaller scissors (like nail scissors) are more convenient because they are more precise.

Cut a piece of tape or duct tape and place the sticky side on your clothing, or use a specially designed Clothing Roller designed for clothing. As you pull on it, the Pills should release with the tape. This only works for lint and hair that is loose on your clothing. You will not pull the pellets of lint off the clothes here, because they are still stuck in the fibers of your clothes. clothes rollers are available everywhere in the large size.

A lesser known, but still a very good solution is the pumice stone. If you rub the item with a pumice stone and then go over it with a clothes roller, you will easily remove the pills. Give it a try!

With these tips, your favorite clothes will always be free of pills, lint and pellets, so you will always look perfectly groomed. Check out our other blogs on how to take care of your clothes and make them last longer. Don't just wear, but care for your clothes!

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