How to Remove Pilling from Clothes
Updated July 2026
The short answer
Those little bobbles are loose surface fibers that friction has rolled into balls, and the fix is mechanical: shear or comb them off. A fabric shaver is the easiest safe tool for most garments; a sweater comb suits fine knits like cashmere and merino. Keep the fabric flat and lightly tensioned, use light passes, and test a hidden area first. Pilling is normal wear, not proof of a bad garment, and it will slowly re-form wherever friction happens; smarter washing just slows it down.
Before you start
- Test your tool on a hidden area: inside hem, under-collar, or a seam allowance. Different knits react differently.
- Lay the garment on a flat, firm surface and smooth it. You want the fabric flat and lightly tensioned, not stretched drum-tight and not loose enough to bunch into the tool.
- Match the tool to the fabric: a shaver for most sweaters, sweatshirts, and coats; a comb for fine, soft knits; a pilling stone only on sturdy wools where you have tested it; fingers for picking a few pills off delicate spots.
- Empty the shaver's lint chamber before you start; a full chamber drags.
- Slow down for lace, loose knits, embroidery, or anything already damaged; often those areas should be worked by hand or left alone entirely.
Steps: removing pills
- 1Start with the worst, most visible areas: under arms, along sides where a bag rubs, cuffs, and seat.
- 2With a fabric shaver, glide slowly over the flat, lightly tensioned fabric with only the tool's own weight for pressure. Circular or straight passes both work; pressing down hard is what catches and cuts fabric.
- 3With a sweater comb, hold the area taut and comb in one direction with short, gentle strokes. The pills collect on the comb; clear it often.
- 4For a few stray pills on delicate fabric, work by hand. Pinch each pill and pull it gently away from the surface, or snip the pill itself, never against the fabric, with the blades parallel to and well clear of the knit.
- 5Re-clear the tool and re-smooth the garment as you go. Bunched fabric plus a powered shaver is how holes happen.
- 6Finish with a lint roller to collect the debris.
Slowing pilling down
Prevention is friction management:
- Wash friction-prone garments inside out, on gentle cycles, in mesh bags.
- Do not overload the machine; crowding is friction.
- Use enough but not excess detergent, and skip long aggressive cycles for knits.
- Rotate garments; constant wear pills constantly.
- Remove pills before washing rather than after; existing pills grab loose fibers in the wash.
- Accept some pilling on blends and soft-spun yarns; fiber mix and yarn construction decide most of a garment's pilling behavior before you ever wear it.
What not to do
- Do not run scissors or a razor flat against the fabric; one snag makes a hole no one can invisibly fix.
- Do not press hard with a fabric shaver.
- Do not shave lace, loose weaves, embroidery, sequined areas, or damaged fabric without extreme caution, and preferably not at all.
- Do not treat pilling as a defect to complain about; nearly every knit pills somewhere.
- Do not expect any prevention routine to stop pilling permanently.
What to expect
De-pilled garments genuinely look freshened, and regular quick passes keep them that way. Pills return where friction returns; that is physics, not failure. Heavily pilled fabric in a loose blend may re-pill quickly, while a well-spun wool may barely need a second pass all season.
Frequently asked questions
Does pilling mean my sweater is low quality?
Not by itself. Fiber blend, yarn twist, and knit density set pilling behavior; even expensive cashmere pills at friction points. Constant, severe, all-over pilling on a new garment says more about the yarn choice, but occasional bobbles are just knitwear life.
Will the pills come back?
Where friction continues, yes, gradually. The removal-plus-gentle-washing routine keeps it easily managed.
Is a fabric shaver safe on cashmere?
Usually, with a light touch and a hidden-area test first; many cashmere owners prefer a sweater comb for more control. Either way: flat fabric, light tension, gentle strokes.
What about leggings and athletic wear pilling between the thighs?
Same physics, synthetic edition. Shave carefully with the fabric flat, wash inside out in a mesh bag, and expect friction zones to need periodic repeats.
Stain on the sweater you just de-pilled? The Stain Rescue Tool starts with a fiber-safety check.
Use the Stain Rescue Tool