If you feel like all your clothes have lint [loose fibers] and end up pilling [tangled together into small balls], there may be a reason for it. Here are a few reasons why and tips to reduce and clean up pilled garments.
If you wish to watch a video on the topic instead, here's a suggestion.
What are lint and pilling?
⇾ Lint is short, loose fibers in a piece of clothing.
⇾ When loose fibers gather into small balls on your clothing, it's called pilling.
⇾ Pilling usually consists of dust, hair, and thread from the garment itself or\and your environment.
⇾ Pilling is not a defect of a garment nor lowers its quality, but is a natural occurrence.
⇾ Clothes with a lot of pills can appear old and worn out. Removing it will freshen them up.
How do lint and pilling form?
⇾ Lint and pilling are frequent in wool, mixed materials (synthetic-natural fibers blends), and synthetics. It exists in all types of fibers.
⇾ Friction, like repeated movements on a part of a garment, causes loose fibers to move to the surface and attach themselves to fibers that still are secured to the fabric.
⇾ Synthetics create more static electricity than natural fibers. This increases pilling. When strong synthetic fibers are blended with weaker natural fibers like cotton, the cotton may break but the synthetics attach it to the garment, creating pills.
⇾ Natural materials generally shed lint less noticeably when being the main content of a garment compared to synthetics.
⇾ Lint and pilling often come to the surface in the washing machine as a result of the physical cleaning process or heat from the dryer weakening and breaking the fibers over time.
⇾ Always follow the washing instructions on the garment.
⇾ Wash the garment inside out
⇾ Separate delicate and sturdier items
⇾ Use as cold water as reasonable
⇾ Hang to dry instead of using a dryer
⇾ Use a washing detergent with the cellulase enzyme in it. Cellulase helps remove lint from your garment.
⇾ Get a lint remover to remove lint on your clothes. There are several options here: electric, brush, comb, scissors, fabric shaver.
⇾ Purchase clothes in fabrics\blends that are less likely to lint
⇾ Smooth tightly woven fabrics (not knitted)
⇾ Tightly twisted yarn
⇾ Denim, linen, cursory, spandex, lycra, silk
⇾ Wash clothes that you know lint separate from clothes that are known to attract lint
⇾ Curdory, wool, and polyester are known to attract lint very well
Thank you for being here. If you read to the end, I hope you found some of this useful. ♡
Sources:
Understanding fabric pilling by Archipro
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