The Stain Library

Material

Acrylic fabric

A synthetic wool substitute that takes enzymes and cool washing well, but pills with rubbing and loses its shape and loft with heat.

  • SurfaceNon porous
  • WashingMachine
  • Colour run riskMedium
  • Reviewed7 September 2026

What acrylic fabric can and cannot take

  • Heat Avoid
  • Water and soaking Tolerates it
  • Acids, including vinegar Use with care
  • Strong alkalis Use with care
  • Solvents Use with care
  • Chlorine bleach Use with care
  • Abrasives Avoid

Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.

General rules for acrylic fabric

Because acrylic is a synthetic rather than a protein, the enzyme route that is forbidden on wool is available and effective.

What acrylic shares with wool is a tendency to pill and to lose shape. Do not scrub it, and dry it flat rather than hanging a wet knit.

Heat is the other limit. Acrylic softens and glazes at low temperatures and a hot dryer will flatten the loft out of a knit permanently.

Check the label

Acrylic is sold as a wool substitute and it is not one chemically, which is good news here: it takes biological detergent, which wool cannot. Manufacturers say acrylic knits are dried flat or at low temperature only, because heat takes the shape out of them.

Stains on acrylic fabric

Acrylic is a synthetic fibre made to look and feel like wool, and the difference between them is the useful part.

It is not protein

Biological detergent is safe on acrylic and is the most effective thing available for a milk stain. The instruction that dominates the wool pages does not apply here at all.

It pills readily

Acrylic fibres are short in most knitting yarns and work loose under friction, rolling into pills. Scrubbing a mark on an acrylic jumper produces a fuzzy patch that outlasts the stain.

Heat takes the loft out

A hot wash or a tumble dryer collapses the crimp that gives acrylic knitwear its bulk, and the garment comes out flatter, denser and often slightly smaller. That is permanent.

It holds static and smells

Acrylic can hold an odour more stubbornly than cotton, so the smell may need addressing after the mark has gone.

Sources

What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.

  1. How to clean polyester and synthetics, Woolite manufacturer

    Detergent manufacturer guidance that polyester is washed, dried and ironed at low to medium heat only because excessive heat can melt the fibres, that air drying is preferred to machine drying, that nylon is washed in cool water on a gentle cycle because repeated machine washing causes discolouration and loss of shape, and that acrylic knits are laid flat or dried at low temperature to keep their shape.

    Checked 7 September 2026

  2. A guide to newborn laundry, American Cleaning Institute trade body

    Cleaning trade body guide to pre-treat breast milk, formula or spit-up with an enzyme stain remover, soak fresh marks for at least 30 minutes and older marks for several hours, launder, and keep stained items out of the dryer until the mark has gone.

    Checked 7 September 2026

  3. How to remove stains from baby clothes, Persil UK manufacturer

    UK manufacturer guidance to act quickly on formula, blot when immediate washing is impossible, rinse under cool water, soak for at least 15 minutes where the care label permits, pre-treat with detergent and then wash to the care label.

    Checked 7 September 2026