Hi VE.
I have found that people just know better and blame the person who made the item months later....
I have found that I can strip my fleece (both people and animal) every 6 months or so. Just like you do for cloth diapers...except for the fact that I use warm water, as hot is just too hot and can melt the fibers.
I also some times will give a squirt of original dawn (the blue kind) and that helps remove the coating- I don't recommend this if you have a HE washer as the foaming will be an issue. The dawn removes the film that is left by fabric softener. The I double rinse, and re-wash without soap, checking to see if it foams up, if it does I restart the load...
I dry my stuff on medium for 10-20 minutes and it is dry, don't leave your stuff in the dryer longer as it gets too hot and starts to melt almost, even on low.
Edit: I forgot, I am lucky to have an almost endless supply of high quality material, but I want my stuff to last- so don't mix loads just fleece on the regular or delicate cycle.
If you purchase "cheap fleece" or cheap blankets to use, no matter how you wash they will pill and become ugly looking. So remember that when you purchase your fleece, sometimes I will purchase a cheap blanket for the pattern and live with it until it is crappy then chuck it or give it to the wildlife rehab lady, who uses it once and then chucks it...