Why Cashmere Pills and How to Deal With It: A Practical Fix, and When to Worry

The first small bobble usually appears somewhere around week three. Under the arm, or along the inside of a sleeve where it meets a coat, and the reaction is nearly always the same: a quiet sense of having been cheated.

Understandable. You spent proper money on something described as the finest thing in the wardrobe, and now it looks slightly fuzzy.

Here is the part nobody says clearly enough at the point of sale. Some pilling is entirely normal, expected, and not a fault. It happens to good cashmere and poor cashmere alike, though for different reasons and with very different endings. Knowing which one you're dealing with takes about five minutes of looking, and fixing it takes roughly the same.

We knit this fibre in our own factory in Leicestershire, spun by Todd & Duncan in Scotland, and I'll be honest that this is the question customers ask us more than any other. So it seems worth answering properly rather than defensively.

Why cashmere pills in the first place

A pill is a small ball of tangled fibre ends sitting on the surface of the fabric. That's all it is. The ends were always there, held loosely in the spun structure, and movement gradually works them loose until they gather together and knot.

Four things determine how much of this happens and how quickly it stops.

1. Fibre length is the main variable

Cashmere is measured two ways, and most shoppers only hear about one of them.

Diameter gets all the attention. The Federal Trade Commission sets a legal ceiling of 19 microns average for anything labelled cashmere, and finer generally feels softer. Fine, useful, widely quoted.

Staple length is the number that actually predicts pilling, and almost nobody mentions it. Longer strands sit deeper in the spun structure with fewer loose ends protruding, so there is simply less material available to tangle. Shorter fibres work free easily. Grade A cashmere staples are typically taken to be 34mm or longer.

Which produces a slightly awkward truth: a very fine short-staple cashmere will bobble more than a marginally coarser long-staple one, even though the first feels better in the shop. Softness on the shelf and durability in use are not the same measurement.

2. How the fibre was spun

Two methods, two outcomes.

• Worsted spinning combs the fibres parallel before twisting, producing a smooth, dense, tightly bound structure. Fewer ends face outward. Pilling is lower.

• Woollen spinning leaves the fibres more randomly arranged, giving a lofty, airy handle that feels wonderful and traps more warmth. It also leaves more ends exposed.

Neither approach is wrong. Woollen-spun cashmere is often the softer, more indulgent thing to wear, and I'd never argue against it on principle. But if surface neatness matters to you, worsted is the safer choice, and it's worth asking which one you're buying.

3. Rubbing, and where it concentrates

This is the mechanical trigger. Friction lifts short ends out of the fabric, then keeps rolling them until they knot. Bag straps, seat belts, desk edges, the inside of a coat sleeve, the point where a shoulder bag sits.

Look at almost any pilled garment and the marks map directly onto whatever it rubbed against. Which is why pills cluster rather than spread evenly. If bobbles appear across the whole surface at once, that usually points to something else, and generally something worse.

4. What it's blended with

Blends behave unpredictably. Cashmere mixed with a stronger synthetic often pills badly, because the weaker natural ends break loose while the tougher fibres hold the resulting knot firmly in place. The pill then refuses to shed on its own.

Pure cashmere sheds its pills eventually. Poorly designed blends keep them.

Merino and cashmere blends are the exception worth knowing about, since both components behave similarly under stress. Our merino cashmere collection uses a 90% ultra fine merino and 10% cashmere yarn from Papi Fabio, and the recovery is noticeably better than pure cashmere at the same weight.

Where and when pilling shows up, and what it tells you

Timing matters as much as location, and reading both together tells you whether you have a normal settling-in period or a genuine quality problem.

The pattern to look for is a curve that flattens. Good cashmere produces a modest flush of pills early on, sheds the loose surface material, and then settles into a smooth face that stays smooth for years.

Poor cashmere never reaches that point. It produces bobbles continuously, because the supply of short ends is effectively endless, and each removal simply exposes more.

Rough guide on timing, though it varies:

• Weeks 1 to 3: first pills appear at contact points

• Weeks 4 to 8: the peak, then a noticeable decline

• Month 3 onward: occasional pills only, at high-wear areas

• Year 2 and beyond: should be largely settled

If you're still fighting it at month six, the garment is telling you something about how it was made.

A note on grade claims

"Grade A" appears on an enormous number of labels and carries no enforced international standard. It's trade shorthand, applied inconsistently, and I'd give it very little weight.

Far better to ask two questions: what is the average micron count, and what is the staple length? A brand that can answer both is usually worth buying from. A brand that answers neither has told you what you need to know.

How to remove pills without wrecking the garment

Right. The practical part.

Tools, in order of preference

• A cashmere comb: A small fine-toothed comb, sometimes described as a sweater comb, designed for exactly this. Cheap, controllable, and almost impossible to damage anything with. My preference by a wide margin.

• A sweater stone: A block of lightweight pumice-like material that catches pills and lifts them clear. Effective on heavier fabrics, though it can be a bit aggressive on fine gauge pieces.

• A battery fabric shaver: Fast, and genuinely useful across a wardrobe. Also the easiest way to cut a hole in something. Cashmere shavers with adjustable guard heights are worth the extra few pounds.

• Not scissors, and not your fingers: Pulling a pill off by hand drags good fibre out with it, leaving a thin patch. Scissors slip.

The method

1. Lay the garment completely flat on a firm surface. A table works. A bed does not, because the give underneath makes it easy to catch the fabric.

2. Smooth the area you're working on so there are no folds or ripples.

3. Work in one direction only: Short, light strokes, always the same way. Back and forth motion creates new tangles while removing old ones.

4. Keep the pressure light: The tool should skim the surface, not press into it. If you feel resistance, you're pushing too hard.

5. Move in small sections, roughly the size of your palm, and finish each before moving on.

6. Check the reverse: Sleeves and underarms often need attention on both faces.

7. Brush the loose material away with your hand or a soft clothes brush.

Ten minutes for a full jumper, once or twice a season. That's genuinely all it takes.

One small thing worth mentioning: do this when the garment is completely dry. Damp fibres stretch and tear far more readily, and any tool will do more harm than good.

Preventing most of it in the first place

Prevention is duller than removal but considerably more effective.

• Rotate garments: Wearing the same piece two days running gives the fibres no chance to recover. Alternating between two or three pieces reduces surface wear on all of them.

• Turn it inside out to clean: This protects the outer face from the small amount of movement that even careful hand cleaning involves.

• Skip fabric softener entirely: It coats the surface and loosens the fibre binding, which is the opposite of helpful.

• Watch your bag: A shoulder strap sitting in the same spot every day will produce a bald patch eventually. Switch shoulders, or carry it differently.

• Fold, never hang: Hanging distorts the shoulders and puts uneven tension through the fabric.

• Clean sparingly: Airing overnight does most of what a wash would, and every cleaning cycle loosens a few more ends.

Our guidance on caring for merino covers most of the same handling principles, since the two fibres respond similarly, and the piece on types of knitwear fabrics is useful if you want to understand why construction changes surface behaviour so much.

If you're weighing your options before buying, our comparison of merino and cashmere sets out the trade-off honestly. Merino resists surface wear better. Cashmere feels better against the neck. Both statements are true at once, which is inconvenient but there it is.

Worth adding that garment type changes the equation considerably. A scarf takes far less abrasion than a sleeve does, which makes cashmere accessories a low-maintenance way into the fibre. At the other end, a chunky cable knit hides surface texture well simply because there's so much of it. Fine gauge pieces show everything, which is part of their appeal and part of their demand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is pilling a sign that cashmere is fake?

Not on its own. Genuine cashmere pills, particularly during its first weeks of wear, because short fibre ends work loose from the spun structure. The distinguishing signal is whether it stops. Real cashmere sheds surface material and then settles. Synthetic imitations and poorly made blends bobble continuously and the pills stay attached rather than dropping away. Burning a small thread offers a rough test: protein fibre smells of burnt hair, plastic melts into a hard bead.

Do all cashmere garments pill at the same rate?

No, and the differences are substantial. Fine gauge pieces show pilling most because the surface is smooth and any disruption is visible. Heavier textures and cable patterns hide it. Worsted-spun cashmere pills less than woollen-spun, and long-staple fibre pills less than short. Placement matters too: underarms, cuffs and the area beneath a bag strap will always go first, regardless of how well the garment was made.

Can dry cleaning remove pills from cashmere?

Some cleaners offer de-pilling as an added service, though it is not part of standard dry cleaning and must be requested. The solvent process itself does nothing to lift bobbles. Repeated dry cleaning gradually strips the natural oils, which can make the surface drier and slightly more prone to shedding over time. Removing pills yourself with a comb is cheaper, faster, and gives you more control over the pressure applied.

Will a fabric shaver damage delicate cashmere?

It can, particularly on fine gauge garments. Rotating blades sit close to the surface, and any fold or ripple pulled up into the head risks a hole. Choose a model with adjustable guard settings, use the highest guard first, and always work on a flat firm surface rather than across your lap. For anything under 24 gauge, a hand comb is the safer tool and takes barely longer.

Does pilling get worse as cashmere ages?

Usually the opposite. Well-made cashmere reaches peak bobbling somewhere between weeks four and eight, then declines sharply as the loose ends are shed. By the second year most garments have settled into a stable smooth face. Renewed heavy pilling after several years of wear generally signals that the structure is breaking down at stress points, which is a different problem and one that tends to precede thinning at the elbows.

Should I remove pills before or after washing?

Before, and by a clear margin. Cleaning loosens fibres temporarily, and pills already present can tangle further or migrate into the surrounding fabric during the process. Work over the garment while it is dry, remove what has gathered, then clean it. Afterwards, let it dry completely flat and check again once, since a few additional bobbles often surface as the fibres relax back into shape.

Conclusion

Pilling is the most misread signal in a wardrobe. Treated as a defect it causes a lot of unnecessary disappointment, when in most cases it's simply a new garment finishing the last stage of its making, on you rather than in the factory.

Buy long staple, comb it twice a season, rotate what you wear, and the problem largely disappears after the first couple of months.

If you would like help judging a specific piece, whether it's something from our cashmere collection, a lambswool crew neck, or one of our extra fine merino layers, our team at Paul James Knitwear is easy to reach. We spin, knit and finish in our own family-owned factories in Leicestershire and India, which means the person answering can tell you how the garment was constructed and what to expect from it. Contact the sales team for advice on fibre, gauge, or getting more years out of something you already own.