By peeling we mean the appearance of those “balls” due to the rubbing of the very small superficial fibers that escape from the thread because they are not completely fixed by the twist.
Often there is a tendency to have a wrong conception of peeling thinking that it is a quality defect. In fact, this is a frequent and absolutely normal feature of cashmere and fine wool.
In the creation of a pure cashmere sweater you must always compromise: in fact you are always faced with the dilemma that requires you to choose between favoring softness or tightening the yarn, to prevent the liberation of those fibers, which with the continuous use, cause peeling. The more the thread is twisted, therefore the more closed, the more it will become less soft and swollen, to the point of resembling a string. On the contrary, the use of a swollen, soft and light yarn, obtained with a few turns of twist, will lead to the creation of a very delicate knit, which will be damaged in a short time.
We prefer to perform a medium / high twisting to favor the durability and stability of the garments, so sometimes our sweaters are soft, but surely, wash after wash, they will become more and more so and any slight peeling will disappear completely after 2 or 3 washes. The finer the fibers, the more they tend to peel: a "shetland" sweater (ordinary wool) will certainly have fewer problems than an extrafine merino's or cashmere.