![Pilling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Pilling.jpg)
A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, fuzzball, or lint ball, is a small ball of fibers that forms on a piece of
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
. ''Pill'' is also a verb for the formation of such balls.
["Pill." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.]
Pilling is a surface defect of textiles caused by wear, and is generally considered an undesirable trait. It happens when washing and wearing of fabrics causes loose fibers to begin to push out from the surface of the cloth, and, over time, abrasion causes the fibers to develop into small spherical bundles, anchored to the surface of the fabric by protruding fibers that haven't broken. The textile industry divides pilling into four stages: fuzz formation, entanglement, growth, and wear-off.
Pilling normally happens on the parts of clothing that receive the most abrasion in day-to-day wear, such as the
collar
Collar may refer to:
Human neckwear
*Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations
*Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck
...
,
cuff
A cuff is a layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment (shirt, coat, jacket, etc.) at the wrist, or at the ankle end of a trouser leg. The function of turned-back cuffs is to protect the cloth of the garment from fraying, an ...
s, and around the
thighs
In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.
The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of b ...
and
rear
Rear may refer to:
Animals
*Rear (horse), when a horse lifts its front legs off the ground
*In stockbreeding, to breed and raise
Humans
*Parenting (child rearing), the process of promoting and supporting a child from infancy to adulthood
*Gende ...
on
trousers
Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dr ...
.
Causes
All fabrics pill to some extent, although fibers such as
linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
and
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
pill less than most.
The primary drivers of pilling are the physical characteristics of the
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
(including both the initial fibre, and the way in which it is processed during
manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
), the personal habits of the textile's wearer, and the environment in which the textile is used. Fibers such as
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
,
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
,
polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...
,
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
and
acrylic
Acrylic may refer to:
Chemicals and materials
* Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound
* Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity
* Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...
have a tendency to pill the most, but wool pilling diminishes over time as non-tenacious wool fibers work themselves free of the fabric and break away, whereas pilling of synthetic textiles is a more serious problem, because the stronger fibers hold on to the pills preventing them from falling off.
In general longer fibers pill less than short ones because there are fewer ends of fibers,
and because it is harder for the longer fibers to work themselves out of the cloth. Fabrics with a large number of loose fibers have a higher tendency to pill. Also,
knitted
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
fabrics tend to pill more than
woven
Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics are often created on a loom, and made of many threads woven on a warp and a weft. Technically, a woven fabric is any fabric made by interlacing two or more threads at right angles to on ...
fabrics,
because of the greater distance between yarn crossings in knitted fabrics than in woven ones.
For the same reason, a tightly knitted object will pill less than a loosely knitted one.
When a fabric is made of a blend of fibers where one fibre is significantly stronger than the other, pills tend to form as the weaker fibre wears and breaks, and the stronger fibre holds the pills onto the cloth.
Preventing
Techniques used by the
textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
Industry process
Cotton manufacturi ...
to avoid pilling include
singe
A singe is a slight scorching, burn or treatment with flame. This may be due to an accident, such as scorching one's hair when lighting a gas fire, or a deliberate method of treatment or removal of hair or other fibres.
Hairdressing
A singe is ...
ing the loose fibers protruding on the surface of
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, and
spinning
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
the yarn with a high number of
twists per inch. Some fabrics are chemically treated during the
manufacturing process
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...
in order to reduce their propensity to pill.
Polymeric coatings are sometimes applied to bind fibers into the fabric surface and prevent initial fuzz from forming. Polyester and cotton fibers are sometimes modified to be of lower-than-normal strength, which results in pills detaching easily from fabrics, once they are formed.
Cellulase enzymes are sometimes used on cotton fabrics during
wet processing, which removes loose fibers.
Textile authorities say consumers can prevent or postpone pilling of their fabrics by treating them with
chemical soil release treatments that make the surface of the fabric more
hydrophilic
A hydrophile is a molecule or other molecular entity that is attracted to water molecules and tends to be dissolved by water.Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon'' Oxford: Clarendon Press.
In contrast, hydrophobes are no ...
, and by turning clothes inside out before washing them.
Result
Pills do not interfere with the functionality of the textile, unless a spot with a lot of pills turns into a hole in the fabric. This is because both pills and holes are caused by the fabric wearing—a pill is fibre that was in the cloth. After the pill forms the fabric is thinner there, increasing the likelihood that a hole will form.
Pilling can seriously compromise a textile's acceptability for consumers, and is the focus of significant industry research. In the textile industry, severity of pilling is objectively evaluated using five parameters: pill number, the mean area of pilling; the total area of pilling; contrast, and density.
See also
*
Nap (textile)
Primarily, nap is the raised (fuzzy) surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as velvet or moleskin. Nap can refer additionally to other surfaces that look like the surface of a napped cloth, such as the surface of a felt or beaver hat.
Starting a ...
*
Pile (textile)
Pile is the raised surface or nap of a fabric, consisting of upright loops or strands of yarn."Pile." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989. Examples of pile textiles are carpets, corduroy, velvet, plush, and Turkish towels. The word ...
References
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Textiles
Properties of textiles