The Pilling

Pilling is a natural phenomenon that occurs on wool and cashmere garments with the appearance of small balls (pills) on blankets or plaids. It is therefore not an indicator of low quality of the yarn, as is often mistakenly thought, but it is still visually unpleasant. Why does pilling occur?

Wool fibres and even more so cashmere fibres are as precious as they are delicate. The tendency to pill is natural, but is accentuated the softer and lighter the garment is. The reason is simple: a garment made with more twisted yarns (hence heavier and therefore more expensive) will have tighter and more dense fibres that give little chance for the pellets to pop out, while a garment made with less twisted yarns (hence lighter, suitable for mid-seasons, softer and more puffy) will have a greater chance of developing pills.

This will inevitably happen with any fine wool and cashmere garment, but since it is possible to manage and control the pilling phenomenon, this is not what you should base your choice of garment on.