Carding untangles cotton fibers and lays them parallel. Combing goes further and removes the shortest fibers entirely before spinning. That second step is the mechanical reason a T-shirt does or does not pill, and most brands never mention it.

What does carding do?

Carding passes raw cotton over rotating wire surfaces that separate tangled fibers, remove trash and align them into a loose rope called a sliver. Every cotton yarn is carded. It is the minimum.

What carding does not do is sort by length. Short fibers, long fibers and everything between go forward together.

What does combing add?

Combing pulls the carded sliver through a fine comb that holds back the shortest fibers and lets the long ones pass. The short fraction is removed and sold separately as a lower-grade byproduct.

What continues to spinning is a narrower, longer, more uniform population of fibers.

Why does that change pilling?

A pill is a tangle of fiber ends that have worked loose from the yarn and knotted at the fabric surface. The more fiber ends there are in a given length of yarn, the more candidates there are to work loose.

Short fibers are held less securely by the twist of the yarn, so they migrate outward first. Removing them before spinning removes most of the population that starts pills. That is the mechanism — not a coating, not a finish, and nothing that washes out.

Does combed cotton feel different?

Yes, and for the same reason. Fewer protruding ends means a smoother surface and less friction against the skin. The hand of a fabric is largely a question of what is sticking out of it.

How can you tell if a T-shirt is combed?

You usually cannot, by touch alone, at the point of sale. Finishing treatments can make a carded fabric feel soft on the rack, and that softness is the first thing to wash out.

The reliable route is the label and the brand. A brand that combs says so, because it is a cost it chose to absorb.

What we do

Idetex describes its spinning process as carding followed by combing. Our yarn is spun by Hilandería Lurín within that group. Why is Pima cotton more expensive?

Related: what Pima cotton is · why Pima cotton costs more · where our fabric comes from · our editorial standards.

See the fabric: Men's Pima Crewneck T-Shirt.