Remove & prevent lint: The best tips against pilling
Lint and fluff often make an unkempt impression, especially on dark-coloured clothing – although this often comes from ‘too well-intentioned’ cleaning. So that you can wear your clothes for a long time, even in the office or at fancy events, we would like to give you some tips for removing lint and explain how you can prevent annoying pilling. With our 5 methods, your woollen jumpers and blazers will still look like new even after months.
16 October 2024 • 4 min reading time
Learn the best tricks to get your clothes smooth and lint-free again!
Everyone is probably familiar with lint rollers – and let’s be honest: They are great for removing loose fluff and animal hair. However, if you don’t have a lint roller to hand or if pilling has already formed in your clothes, you need to use stronger weapons.
Whilst clothes brushes can brush out small knots and tangles, they are not exactly gentle on your clothes and don’t have a long-lasting effect. We would therefore like to introduce you to the best tips, alternatives and home remedies for removing lint.
Do you have a pet or long hair yourself? Then a lint roller is indispensable for you, especially if you often wear dark jeans, blazers or other susceptible items of clothing and want to look neat at work.
If you don’t have a lint roller to hand, you can easily imitate the same effect with adhesive tape. You can either pull it over your clothes like a strip of cold wax or wrap it around a rolling pin with the adhesive side facing outwards – et voilà: A free lint roller!
Although this tip is quite time-consuming, it’s very effective and gentle, especially if there are only a few pills. To remove pilling and fluff from jumpers in particular, you should cut off individual pills with sharp scissors after each wash.
To avoid damaging the fibres and to prevent further pilling, you should cut the knots as far down as possible. Hair cutting scissors or fabric scissors are best suited for this. Just be careful not to cut into the fabric and destroy it.
If the pilling on your woollen jumpers is already well advanced, cutting it off by hand is very tedious. A lint shaver has a similar but much more efficient effect. To ensure a long-lasting effect here too, you should choose a high-quality lint shaver with sharp blades.
Many people also use normal disposable or body shavers to remove lint and pilling. If you don’t have anything else to hand, this is a good option. But remember that the blades should also be very sharp. Also, be extremely careful and slide the razor a few millimetres over the fabric to avoid damaging it.
This tip is also suitable for removing lint or hair and has a similar effect to the lint roller. Simply put on a standard rubber glove and run it over the item of clothing you want to remove lint from. The lint and hair will stick to the rubber glove. The good thing is that you can wash the glove afterwards, leave it to dry and use it again and again.
Have you ever heard of tumble dryer sheets? These cloths are actually intended for the tumble dryer. They have an antistatic effect and are often provided with a fresh odour to make the laundry smell nice. If you have lint on your laundry, you rub your garment with a dryer sheet. The lint should now stick to the cloth.
As dryer sheets often contain environmentally harmful ingredients, you can achieve a similar effect with nylon stockings or tights. Simply put the socks on like a glove and rub them over the garment to pick up lint.
Even if you can get rid of lint quite easily and quickly, some methods are not necessarily gentle on your garments, especially when it comes to removing pilling. So, the very best thing to do is to take care of your clothes gently and take specific measures to prevent lint from forming. Find out how to do this now.
Some items of clothing like woollen or cashmere jumpers, scarves and beanies are predestined to develop fluff and pilling after a few washes. You can easily prevent this by turning your clothes inside out before washing. This way, your garments are exposed to less friction, which prevents pilling and the like. Laundry bags have a similar effect. They are particularly practical for scarves and beanies.
Vinegar is probably the miracle cure par excellence when it comes to washing laundry and removing odours. In fact, white vinegar can also prevent the formation of fluff and pills. Simply put a small dash of vinegar in the washing machine or the detergent department. Its antistatic effect keeps the fibres of your clothes smoother. Less fluff can get caught in the hairs and pilling is also less likely to occur.
There are also things you should avoid in order to prevent fluff and pilling. The use of tumble dryers and fabric softeners can be harmful, especially with items of clothing that fluff easily. Lint often only develops because an item of clothing has been put in the tumble dryer against the recommendation. To make sure that your clothes are suitable for tumble drying, you should always check the laundry label and, if in doubt, avoid using the tumble dryer.
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