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Viopit OP t1_iqsuc0u wrote

Reply to comment by LowBeautiful1531 in What is considered BIFL if all fabrics pill over time? by Viopit

The pills are essentially a part of the fabric itself, so basically when you shave them off you remove fabric. Over time the fabric will degrade and holes will appear then the item is not longer wearable, or am I wrong here?

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LowBeautiful1531 t1_iqsve39 wrote

The pills were part of the fabric, until the fibers got loose and stuck out far enough from the surface to tangle with each other. So they're kinda already not part of the fabric anymore. There are special trimmers you can get to remove them without doing more damage to the intact parts of the fabric. The main body of the fabric meanwhile is felting more against itself, so the pilling effect should reduce over time.

All fabric is losing bits constantly-- that's the lint you pull out of the lint trap in the dryer. At least the natural fibers are biodegradable.

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Foreign-Cookie-2871 t1_isb25kj wrote

I want to add that the slight felting actually counteracts pilling really well, it even surpasses it sometimes. In the end you lose some cm of garment instead of durability. It's also warmer at this point ;)

I always buy my wool a tiny bit bigger for this reason, so I can wear it for longer.

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kromkuken t1_irb8dtf wrote

You can repair the fabric when holes appear.

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