Clothes Moths by G.R. Nielsen, Former Extension Entomologist, Plant and Soil Science Department Clothes moths are well known as fabric pests.
Widespread damage is due more to weaknesses in control measures than to lack of awareness.
Carpet beetles are more abundant than clothes moths in Vermont, and damage that they do is often blamed on clothes moths. Two species of clothes moths infest homes. Their narrow wings are fringed with long hairs. They develop a silken feeding tube, mat, or web, on fabrics, carpets, etc. The casemaking clothes moth is much less important than the webbing clothes moth as a pest and is most common in the south.