Shed Less fleece creates less microplastic in the laundry

Polartec^®, a Milliken & Co. brand, announced Polartec Shed Less Fleece, a new milestone in its effort to reduce textile fiber fragment shedding. Shed Less is a process that combines yarn construction, knitting, chemistry and manufacturing to reduce home laundry fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85%. 

The Shed Less process works by engineering the lofted fibers that give fleece its soft hand and the ability to resist breaking and rubbing off during home laundering, cited as one contributing factor to the spread of fiber fragments, called microfibers. The company says that its fleece products continue to be lightweight, breathable, warm and soft. 

The first fabric to receive this new technology is the brand’s Polartec 200 Series Fleece, the modern version of the original PolarFleece^® launched in 1981 and which, in 1993, was the first performance fleece knit from yarn made from recycled plastic bottles. The new product was initially launched in the United States March 1 of this year. Photo: Polartec