Your ball or pillow is made of the same material as your clothes, so care and cleaning is as straightforward as caring for your t-shirts!

1) Avoid direct sunlight: Most fabrics will fade over time. In order to keep colour bright, avoid placing them in direct sunlight for prolonged periods.

2) Vacuum cleaning: use the vacuum nozzle on low power — high power can damage the product.

3) Cleaning: The ball covers and pillows are machine washable. The footstools, small balls, and blossom, anemone, and bamboo styles may fit in a regular home machine, but all others will require a commercial machine, due to the weight and size of the covers:

  • remove the cover — you will find the zipper next to the fabric loop on the exterior of the ball. The zipper runs 3/4 of the way around the ball for ease of removal.

  • turn your cover inside out, then pull the zipper mostly closed (don’t worry if it opens up in the wash - it happens!)

  • wash separate from other items, using cold water and regular laundry detergent. Do not use bleach. Spin dry — you may want to adjust and run through another spin drying cycle, due to the heaviness of the product. Remember, you are essentially washing a carpet!

  • air dry in a shady place (if you place in the sun, put the cover upside down in order to reduce the risk of fading). If you machine dry, we recommend using a softener sheet to condition the fibres.

  • Once dry (which can take a couple of days if air drying, depending on the style of your cover, and your climate), replace the cover:

    • partially deflate the ball, position the fabric loop zipper locator near the inflation hole in the ball.

    • Wrestle the cover back on the ball (its weight can make this an awkward exercise, but it isn’t difficult),

    • zip it up to the inflation hole in the ball, then pump it back to your desired degree of firmness.

  • A note on inflation of your ball:

    • make sure the ball is at room temperature before inflating. Place inside the cover, with the fabric loop zipper locator near the inflation hole in the ball. Zip up the cover, leaving just a few inches open near the inflation hole.

    • inflate until it SEEMS like it might be full. It’s not. But leave it there for a day or so (at least a few hours) — it still has more elasticity, but needs some time to ‘rest’ before you finish inflating. This is particularly the case for the mini-balls, which are not anti-burst (we can’t find anti-burst that small!). Once it has rested for at least a day (the mini ball DOES need this longer period), top it up, and zip up the cover.

  • A note on zipping up the zipper (it’s a bit finickey, so take it slowly):

    • With the ball fully inflated, you may find it a bit challenging to close the zipper those last few inches. Do not pull up on the zipper, and do not force the zipper. Instead, press down on the ball, creating a sort of furrow along which you pull the zipper tab. You might want another pair of hands to help you keep all the fluff out of the zipper’s path as you pull the tab. If you pull up on the zipper, you run the risk of stretching the mouth of the slider, which can result in the zipper failing to remain closed. So make sure you pull the tab along, while pushing the ball down.

    • If your zipper doesn’t want to stay shut (it’s happened once, to my knowledge, but I don’t want it happening to you, too!), very gently squeeze the slider (up and down, not side to side) with a pair of pliers — this will tighten the slider’s grip on the zipper, and should stop it from coming open when it’s supposed to stay shut.

  • And if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to send an email sgballs.canada@gmail.com, or give us a call 613-818-8423.

  • And finally, if you’re in Victoria, come by with your ball — I’ve got a super-pump, and have zipped up more balls than I can count, so would be happy to do it for you!

Enjoy!!