Cashmere Pilling: How to Prevent and Remove it?

Cashmere pilling is one kind of small hairballs we usually found on our cashmere scarves or sweaters. In this article, we are going to discuss why cashmere pilling occurs and how to prevent and remove it.

Why does cashmere pilling occur?

Firstly, the structure of cashmere fiber is complex.

The cashmere fiber is composed of a scale layer and a cortex layer. The scale layer has a certain height and thickness, and some edges are sawtooth-shaped, like a barb, It is easy to cause the fibers to collide and stick together during the wearing process, which results in pilling.

Secondly, the fineness, length, and curl of cashmere fibers are unique.

Compared with Australian wool, cashmere has smaller fineness, shorter length, and fewer curls, so that the fiber has less cohesion in the yarn and is easy to cause pilling.

Thirdly, cashmere fibers have poor electrical resistance and poor electrical conductivity. When the clothes are worn, the fibers rub against each other, causing charges to accumulate in the fibers and generate static electricity. 

For example, when chemical fibers and cashmere are rubbed, fibers with different charges attract each other, which is easy to cause the fabric to fluff and pillied.

This is particularly serious when the weather is dry. Many fabrics will inevitably be pilled after rubbing. Cashmere pilling affects the appearance of the texture, but it does not cause any damage to the clothing itself.

How to prevent the pilling from cashmere?

1. The cashmere fiber is soft waxy, it won't be stiff if worn close to the body, but it will allow you to enjoy the skin-like softness. So wearing closely can avoid friction with other clothes to reduce the chance of pilling.

2. Try to match the clothes with smooth linings, such as down or other jackets with smooth lining, avoid wearing hard clothes such as denim. Special attention should also be paid to the parts with more friction in daily life, especially to reduce friction with other hard objects when wearing externally.

3. Cashmere fibers are easy to fatigue, so you should pay more attention to changing them when wearing them so that the cashmere fibers can be fully rested.

4. When you wash a cashmere scarf, soak in warm water with a special velvet detergent below 30°, knead, rinse off with water and then dry it, arrange it to the original flat tile and dry, avoid hanging exposure. Increased washing times will also reduce the life of cashmere scarves, you should also pay attention in washing process to avoid damage to the fiber.

How to remove the pillings from cashmere?

If you find some pills on your sweater. please do not worry about it. There are some tools to help you remove it, such as cashmere combs, sweater shavers, or bristle brushes. After washing, lay your garment flat and brush across the surface to remove the pills.

Many people find that after their cashmere is pilling, the first thing is to forcefully pull the hairball off by hand. In fact, this is not a good solution.

You can also cut the hairball with scissors after cleaning the cashmere sweater (shaving with a razor or fader tool can easily cause secondary damage to the fiber). If you are afraid of improper handling, you can find a merchant to assist in handling.

Under normal circumstances, the hairball will appear at the beginning, but after removing it once, it will not be produced again.

All in all, from the cashmere fabric, the cashmere products with some pilling in normal is high quality cashmere. The pilling tells you if cashmere is real or not. You must keep your eyes open when buying it, do not be superstitious about the misunderstanding of "good cashmere, no ball".