Learn English – the verb or correct word to describe ‘losing some part of a cloth’

word-request

Let's say I have a backpack. It is a typical bag like this backapck but say it is made of inferior quality. One time I wash it and since than I have been observing that the black body of the bag has been disintegrating. I see small black pieces lying on the floor which came from the bag's outer black layer.

My question is what is the right word( or in this case verb) to describe this phenomenon. I think the word I am looking for would also apply for a old pullover with some design or print on it; and since it is old and worn out, that material is starting to fall off.

I want to used the word in this sense

The bag or the cloth is so old/ worn out/ inferior that it is starting to (the word I am looking for).

However I am fine with other constructs also in same sense.

Best Answer

If the backpack is losing fibers at the edges of the cloth, it is starting to fray.

If entire scraps of woven cloth are coming off, you already know the answer--it's starting to disintegrate.

If it is coming apart at the seams, it is simply coming apart at the seams (an expression that is usually used idiomatically, but which you have the uncommon privilege of being able to use literally here).