How to Remove Pilling from a Sweater: 4 Methods, Ranked
The best way to remove pilling from a sweater is a fabric comb, used on a flat surface with short strokes in one direction. A battery-powered fabric shaver is faster for large areas, and a sweater stone works on coarse knits. Never pull pills off by hand and never use a razor — both break the yarn and cause more pilling.
Pills are not damage. They are loose fibre ends that have worked their way to the surface and tangled into balls. Every knitted fabric does this to some degree, because a knit is made of looped yarn with countless fibre ends exposed to friction. The question is never whether a knit will pill, but how you deal with it when it does.
Why sweaters pill in the first place
Three things drive it:
- Friction. Underarms, cuffs, the side where a bag strap sits, and the seat of a car. Pills appear exactly where a garment rubs.
- Fibre length. Yarn spun from short staple fibres has more loose ends per inch. Long-staple cotton pills far less than short-staple.
- Fibre strength. This is the counter-intuitive one. Weaker natural fibres form pills that break away on their own. Stronger synthetic fibres form pills that stay attached, which is why a fully synthetic knit accumulates pills while a cotton one sheds them.
Does pilling mean the sweater is bad quality?
Not by itself. A knit that pills lightly in high-friction areas during the first few wears and then settles is behaving normally — those are surplus short fibres working out of a new yarn, and it stops.
What does signal poor quality is pilling that never stops, pills that are hard and fused rather than soft, pilling across flat unrubbed areas like the centre of the back, and fabric that thins where you remove pills. That last one means you are pulling structural yarn out, not surface fluff.
The four methods, ranked
1. Fabric comb — best for most knits
Best overall · Slowest · Safest
A fabric comb is a fine-toothed metal comb that catches pills and lifts them without cutting into the fabric beneath. It gives you the most control of any method, which matters on fine-gauge knits where a shaver can bite too deep.
Lay the garment flat on a hard surface — a table, not your lap, because fabric that sags gets caught. Hold the fabric taut with one hand. Draw the comb in short strokes, always in the same direction, with light pressure. Let the comb do the work; pushing harder does not remove more pills, it just risks snagging.
2. Battery fabric shaver — fastest for large areas
Fastest · Moderate risk
A fabric shaver has a rotating blade behind a perforated guard. Pills poke through the holes and get cut off. It clears a whole sweater front in a couple of minutes.
The risk is that the guard sits flat while a knit surface is not flat. On ribbing, cables and seams, the blade can reach the fabric itself and cut a hole. Keep the garment flat and taut, move in slow circles, avoid ribbed cuffs and hems entirely, and empty the lint chamber often — a full chamber makes the blade press harder. Choose one with adjustable guard height and set it to the least aggressive setting that works.
3. Sweater stone or pumice — coarse knits only
Cheap · Coarse knits only
A block of pumice dragged across the surface abrades pills away. Fine on chunky, robust, textured wool. Too aggressive for fine-gauge cotton, where it roughens the surface and creates the very fibre ends that become the next round of pills.
4. Scissors — for a handful of pills only
Precise · Impractical at scale
Small scissors snipped across the top of individual pills work when you have five pills and no tools. Cut the pill, never the yarn it sits on. Beyond about a dozen it stops being worth the time and the risk.
Two things never to do. Do not pull pills off with your fingers — the pill is still anchored to yarn in the fabric, so pulling drags that yarn out, thins the knit and guarantees more pilling. And do not use a disposable razor. It has no depth guard, and on a knit it will cut the loops rather than the pills. The saved money is not worth the hole.
How your fibre changes the approach
| Fibre | How it pills | Best method |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton | Pills lightly at friction points; pills are soft and often fall away on their own. | Fabric comb |
| Cotton-majority blends | Behave close to cotton, since most of the surface is cotton. Pills lift readily with a comb. | Fabric comb |
| Merino wool | Pills readily at first, then settles as surplus fibres work out. | Comb or shaver |
| 100% acrylic or polyester | Pills persistently, and with no natural fibre present the pills stay firmly anchored. | Shaver, repeatedly |
Our knits are made in 100% cotton or GRS certified 60% recycled cotton, 40% recycled acrylic — listed on each product page. Both are cotton-majority, so the surface behaves like cotton: pills stay soft, lift with a comb, and settle after the first few wears rather than accumulating.
Preventing pilling in the first place
Removal is a cure. These are the preventions, in order of how much difference they make.
- Turn inside out before washing. The single most effective habit. The drum abrades whichever surface faces out.
- Wash knits with knits. Denim, towels and anything with zips or Velcro are abrasive. Keep them in a separate load.
- Use a mesh laundry bag. Cuts drum friction considerably for very little effort.
- Reduce spin speed. High spin presses fabric hard against the drum. 600–800 rpm is plenty.
- Rest between wears. A day off lets compressed fibres recover instead of staying flattened and abraded.
- Never tumble dry. Heat and tumbling together are the most efficient pill-making machine in your house. Dry flat.
- Mind your bag. A shoulder strap in the same spot every day will pill any knit ever made. Alternate shoulders.
Frequently asked questions
How do you remove pills from a sweater without a fabric shaver?
A fine-toothed fabric comb is the best alternative and gives more control than a shaver. Failing that, small scissors snipped across the top of each pill work for a handful of pills. Lay the garment flat and hold the fabric taut whichever tool you use.
Does pilling mean a sweater is low quality?
Not on its own. Light pilling at friction points during the first few wears is normal as surplus short fibres work out of new yarn, and it stops. Persistent pilling across unrubbed areas, hard fused pills, or fabric that thins when pills are removed do indicate poor quality.
Can you use a razor to remove pilling?
No. A razor has no depth guard, so on a looped knit surface it cuts the loops rather than the pills and creates holes. Use a fabric comb or a purpose-made fabric shaver with a guard instead.
Why does my sweater pill under the arms and not elsewhere?
Pilling follows friction. Underarms, cuffs, the side where a bag strap rests and the area that meets a car seat rub more than anywhere else, so fibre ends surface there first. It is a sign of normal wear rather than a fault.
Does washing a sweater cause pilling?
Machine washing contributes through drum friction, especially at high spin speeds or alongside abrasive items like denim. Turning the garment inside out, using a mesh bag, lowering the spin speed and never tumble drying reduce it substantially.
Do cotton knits pill less than acrylic?
Yes, noticeably. Cotton pills form from weaker fibres and tend to detach and fall away on their own. In a fully synthetic knit the fibres are strong, so pills stay firmly anchored and accumulate. A cotton-majority blend behaves much like cotton, because most of the fabric surface is cotton.
The short version
Buy a fabric comb, lay the garment flat, work in one direction with light pressure. Wash inside out in a mesh bag, never tumble dry, and rest a knit for a day between wears. Do that and pilling stops being something you manage and becomes something you barely notice.
More on caring for knits in our guide to warm-weather knits, or browse the knitwear collection.
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