# Whence Comes the Lint?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-comes-the-lint/168048>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 11, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-comes-the-lint/168048 "2003-04-11T15:24:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-comes-the-lint/168048/1 "2003-04-11T15:24:54Z")

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Every time I tumble-dry my clothes, there’s some lint in the lint filter. How does it get there? From the clothes, obviously – but I just WASHED these! There shouldn’t be any loose particles left on them to make lint – should there?

I have two theories:

1. 

```
The lint is composed of bits of fabric from the garments themselves, knocked loose by the tumble-drying process. This implies that enough dryings will eventually cause a garment to disintegrate entirely, and anything you really want to keep a long time should always be dried on a line.

```

2. 

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The lint is what's left of your missing socks, after the machine has digested them. (Urp!)
```

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-comes-the-lint/168048/2 "2003-04-11T15:39:00Z")

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#1 is correct.

Yeah, every time you rub cloth, tiny bits of it are going to rub off. We call this “lint”. And when you tumble clothes in a dryer, they’re rubbing against each other and the dryer, rubbing off lint.

And yes, over time, the cloth gets thinner and softer as it wears down. Compare: brand-new polo top or t-shirt or oxford button-down shirt or jeans or bedsheet vs. old much-washed shirt or jeans or sheet–the new one is stiff and thick; the old one is thin and soft, from all the rubbing.

The trouble with line-drying perma-press fabric to save on lint wear is that it gets all stiff and weird. It’s designed to be tumble dried in a dryer to soften it up and get the wrinkles out. So it’s a tradeoff–you line-dry your t-shirts to save lint and keep them forever, and walk around wearing stiff wrinkled t-shirts, or you can stick 'em in the dryer and get 'em all nice and soft, and try to ignore the fact that the dryer is stealing lint from you.