Pill (textile)

A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, fuzzball, or lint ball, is a small ball of fibers that forms on a piece of <a href="/facts/Cloth/PJrVeM5S">cloth</a>. Pill is also a verb for the formation of such balls.
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, <a href="/facts/Abrasion_(mechanical)/Ttk8nv9J">abrasion</a> causes the fibers to develop into small spherical bundles, anchored to the surface of the fabric by protruding fibers that have not 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 <a href="/facts/Collar_(clothing)/aesNTKaj">collar</a>, <a href="/facts/Cuff/ak4nAAW8">cuffs</a>, and around the <a href="/facts/Thighs/HAGbp2M9">thighs</a> and <a href="/facts/Buttocks/dtybFpGI">rear</a> on <a href="/facts/Trousers/PUQH9DrP">trousers</a>.

Pill (textile) open-in-new

Pill (textile)