BIORESTORE cotton: Can it really remove lint and pilling?

SPOILER ALERT: Yes, it does work and it’s by far the best pill remover on the market! The price point is high ($25 a box), and it only restores 1kg (4-5 garments) at a time, but it is an effective product to remove pilling and restore the original colour, and texture of cotton clothing. 

Recently, I came across BIORESTORE Re-Tergent. A laundry powder that supposedly removes pilling, lint and restores the original colour and texture of cotton clothing in only one home laundry wash.  

When I first saw the product features in a PR article, I was shocked. Like how that is even possible? While the website, features, and everything else looked promising- I had to try the product myself to believe that it really does work!

So, I ordered a box of BIORESTORE cotton directly from their website. The process was simple. I received a confirmation email instantly after placing my order.

Finally, the parcel arrived after 3-4 working days and I got my hands on the product.  

When I opened the box, there were 3 sachets of laundry powder in it. It was written on the box that the product is enough for 6-8 pieces of adult clothing, which is enough to restore 1kg of garments, but with a simple guide enclosed in the instructions I was ready to pull items from my wardrobe to try out. 

Then, the box mentioned that it works best for cotton and cotton blends which means it doesn’t work on 100% polyester, wools etc. (which is fine as my wardrobe is packed with cotton T-shirts and hoodies! 

There was also an instruction manual within the packaging, which had everything you need to know about the product penned down in it. As it was my first time using something like a pill remover detergent in a washing machine, I actually went through all of the instructions to get it just right the first time. 

The first step was to pick out the clothes that you want to restore. For the first garment, I selected a hoodie that was 70% cotton and 30% polyester. I had used a fabric shaver 2-3 times on this hoodie, but it didn’t go away completely and actually came back pretty soon.  

The second garment I picked was a 100% cotton t-shirt. It was navy in colour (at least when I bought it). As of now, its colour has turned to a washed out greyish navy and there is a white fluff  all over the fabric. 

For my third and last fabric, I picked another cotton t-shirt. It is also some years old and has a lot of fabric calls on both inside and outside. As this is apparently 1kg, it’s time to put the product to the test. The instructions mentioned on the packaging are listed below: 

As I had 1kg of garments to restore, I had to put all 3 sachets of the pill remover laundry powder into the washing machine. The powder gave off a slight malty fragrance – like beer actually. After that, I set the temperature at 40ºC and started the cycle.  

After 2 hours the cycle was completed, and I took out the garments from the washer. By far, I could see some progress in the garments, but not that much (getting a little worried there).  Then, I put the clothes in the drier on cool setting.  

When I took the clothes out of the dryer, I was really amazed to see the results. While I had my fair share of reservations, the product ACTUALLY WORKED! All of the lint, pilling, and white fluff had disappeared from the garments, and I could really see the original, vibrant colours that I thought were gone forever!   

Here’s what I think of this- The product and its features are really amazing, but the price point is a little high. One box cost $25 so I spent almost $8.5 on each piece of clothing, and you could probably just get a new shirt within the price range of the high street, but this would be great for more expensive items. From a sustainability point of view, BIORESTORE is great, and I would definitely love to try it on secondhand clothing to remove pilling for the next time