You buy a luxurious cashmere scarf at 100s of dollars. The expensive, lifetime durable, warm, best feels and you got a lot of fuzzy balls on the garment? How did it happen? What is it? It’s called Pilling. Pilling occurs on almost all fiber types but the delicate cashmere fiber is more prone to it. This can make your favorite cashmere pieces look older soon. A real headache to the luxury wearers! Let’s get into the depth of cashmere pilling.
What is Pilling?
Pilling, also called bobbling, is when small balls form on wool clothing. It makes the clothing look bad. Pilling happens when the fabric rubs together during wear. It often appears around the elbows, armpits, sleeves, belly, and sides of the cashmere sweater. It can occur on every corner of cashmere wrap.
What causes the Cashmere pilling?
Cashmere Pilling is complicated and depends on many factors. Some are how active the wearer is and the clothing rubs against other surfaces that cause abrasion, like sitting at a desk for a long time. Regular wear cycle naturally brings balls of fibers on cashmere.
Quality of cashmere fiber
Cashmere wool falls into three graded categories: Grade A (long, fine fibers), Grade B (thicker and longer than Grade A), and Grade C (low quality). Low-quality cashmere may pill immediately when rubbed between fingers due to shorter, thicker fibers. The pilling is more in high-quality cashmere fibers but low-quality fibers create larger bobbling.
Storing Cashmere
Cashmere is vulnerable to pilling when wet due to loss of shape and stretching of fibers. Environmental concerns aren’t just about external factors. Storage practices also impact how well cashmere keeps and for how long it can be kept. Don’t stack cashmere garments too tightly on top of each other to prevent further shredding of fiber bonds.
Wearing style
Cashmere is prone to pilling around the neckline, hems, and cuffs, and anywhere the fabric creases while worn. Layering clothing increases the chance of cashmere pills. Careful wear can save delicate fibers.
Friction between fibers
Friction between fibers causes pilling. Excessive friction can be prevented using tissue paper. Acid-free tissue paper between folds of a sustainable fiber garment prevents tangling and transfer of body oils or perspiration.
How to prevent Cashmere from pilling?
Some clothing gets pills, but you can stop it. When you buy clothes, check the label. Clothes made with many different kinds of fibers, especially those with both natural and synthetic fibers, are more likely to get pills. Cashmere fabrics are the natural fibers that are more likely to be prone. To prevent cashmere pilling, you can follow the tips below:
- Cashmere fabrics with tighter weaves have fewer pills because they hold the fibers better. Loose fibers pill more easily.
- Turn your favorite cashmere clothes inside out before washing or folding them. This stops the fabric from rubbing against other clothes and causes fewer pills.
- Wash your cashmere fabrics on a gentle cycle or by hand with cold water. The less the clothes move around, the fewer pills they get.
- Hang your cashmere garments up to dry instead of putting them in the dryer, even if the label says it’s okay. This stops the clothes from moving around as much and prevents pills.
How to remove cashmere pilling?
It is an easy task to remove pills from cashmere clothes. However, it can be time-consuming.
- Remove pills from cashmere with a disposable razor. Lay the garment flat and pull the fabric tight with one hand. Shave upward with the razor in small strokes, starting lightly and increasing as needed. This prevents cutting the fabric.
- Use packing tape to lift pills off the cashmere fibres. Wrap a loop of tape around your fingers with the sticky side out.
- Rub over the cashmere fabric with sandpaper to remove the pills. Use any grit sandpaper or a sandpaper sponge.
- Use a lint brush or adhesive lint roller to remove pills from the cashmere clothing. Work gently and slowly to avoid damaging the material.
- Cold wash using cashmere shampoo can preserve finer cashmere from actual damage to clothes.
- Try a pumice stone or sweater stone to remove pills from your luxurious fabric. Rub it over the affected areas of the fabric.
- Use Velcro hair rollers or a strip of Velcro to lift and remove pills from your beautiful garment. Roll the roller over the material or hold the Velcro hook-side down to lift the fuzz balls off the garment.
- Use a cashmere comb to gently scrape pills off the fabric. Using short quick strokes while holding the cashmere item taut from the sweater comb can throw pilling away.
- Use a fabric shaver to remove pills by lightly guiding it over the delicate fabric’s surface using light, gentle motions to avoid damaging the garment.
Conclusion
Once you remove the pilling, your cashmere will be brand new. Not to mention with proper care, you have to do it way less often. The grade A high-quality cashmere betters as time goes even though occasional pilling occurs. No wonder natural fibre from Himalayan goats is a popular choice.