Tactel is a trademark for nylon yarn, not the name of a fibre. Its owner, The LYCRA Company LLC of Wilmington, Delaware, sells TACTEL® fibre as a fine nylon filament yarn for swimwear, lingerie, underwear and activewear, made at its plant in Monterrey, Mexico. ICI introduced the brand in 1983, and it has since passed through DuPont and INVISTA to its present owner. Because it is a brand name, Tactel can never stand alone on a garment label: the label must also give the fibre’s legal name, polyamide or nylon.
This page sets out what the brand covers, who has owned it, what the owner sells under it today and what a label in the EU or the US must say. The ownership history comes from the US trademark register and the owners’ own filings and releases. For nylon chemistry, see Polyamide Fibers; for how nylon sits among the other man-made fibres, see Synthetic Fibers.
What is Tactel?
The owner calls TACTEL® fibre “a delicate, refined nylon”. Its brand site says the TACTEL® name applies to FDY and AJT yarns (fully drawn and air-jet textured continuous filament) and is suitable for warp and circular knitting, and its FAQ gives a range of 40 to 156 dtex in fine and coarse filament counts. DuPont’s annual report for 2003 lists it as “Tactel® nylon” among the trademarks it was selling with INVISTA.
The legal fibre name is “nylon” in the US rules and “polyamide or nylon” in the EU. Both laws define the fibre by its chemistry, not by a brand. In the EU it is a fibre of synthetic linear macromolecules whose amide links are at least 85 % joined to aliphatic or cycloaliphatic units (Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Annex I, No 30). In the US it is a long-chain synthetic polyamide in which fewer than 85 % of the amide links attach directly to two aromatic rings (16 CFR 303.7(i)). Aramids, where at least 85 % of those links attach directly to two aromatic rings, have names of their own in both lists.
Which nylon? The owner’s current pages do not say whether classic TACTEL® fibre is nylon 6 or nylon 6,6. They quote its apparel vice-president for the Americas describing a portfolio of “nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 products”, and they describe TACTEL® EcoMade fibre as an alternative to virgin nylon 6. Trade reports have described Tactel as nylon 6,6, but we could not confirm that from the owner’s pages, its archived pages or the trademark register, so this page does not state it. On a label it makes no difference, because both types carry the same legal name.
Tactel versus generic nylon 6,6
A garment made with TACTEL® fibre and one made with unbranded nylon 6,6 carry the same fibre name on their labels. What the brand adds is not a different polymer class. The differences are these:
- One producer and a defined range. The fibre comes from one owner, made at its Monterrey plant, in the yarn types and decitex range above.
- Control over the name. Using the owner’s word marks or logos needs a trademark licence agreement, and the owner says they may be used only with genuine fibre, fabric or garments bought from its authorised mills and manufacturers. It also supplies hang tags. Its mill page lists eight fabric mills: five under the United States, two under Mexico and one under Colombia.
- Claims that are the owner’s. The owner describes the fibre as silky, durable, breathable and lightweight, and says it “dries 8x faster than cotton”. Those are the brand’s claims. Its pages do not publish the test behind the cotton comparison, and this page has not tested them.
- A separate company from INVISTA’s nylon. When INVISTA sold TACTEL® with its apparel business, it kept its nylon 6,6 intermediates, its nylon polymer and fibre portfolio and brands such as CORDURA® (INVISTA, 28 October 2017). Since the sale was completed in January 2019, the brand and INVISTA’s nylon 6,6 business have had different owners.
Who has owned the Tactel brand?
The US register records every transfer of the 1985 registration in its assignment abstract. The table leaves out the security interests that lenders took and later released.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | ICI introduces TACTEL® as a brand in performance sportswear | INVISTA’s brand history page, as archived on 24 Apr 2008 |
| 3 Dec 1984 | US application for TACTEL for yarns, registered on 17 Sep 1985 to ICI, claiming use in US commerce from 29 Feb 1984 | USPTO, serial 73511618 |
| 1993; 9 Mar 1994 | DuPont takes over the fibres division of ICI. ICI Chemicals & Polymers Limited assigns the US registration and its goodwill to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, signed 9 Mar 1994, recorded 17 Jun 1994 | INVISTA’s history page (1993); USPTO assignment, reel 1172 frame 0034 |
| 17 Nov 2003 | DuPont and Koch Industries announce a definitive agreement to sell INVISTA, DuPont’s textiles and interiors business, whose brands include TACTEL® | DuPont 8-K and 10-K for 2003 |
| 30 Apr 2004 | DuPont assigns the registration to INVISTA North America S.à r.l., recorded 11 May 2004; INVISTA has been a Koch subsidiary since 2004 | USPTO, reel 2846 frame 0483; Koch, 30 Jan 2019 |
| 28 Oct 2017 | INVISTA agrees to sell its Apparel & Advanced Textiles business, including TACTEL® fibre products, to Shandong Ruyi Investment Holding | INVISTA release |
| 1 Jan 2018 (effective) | INVISTA North America assigns the registration to A&AT LLC, a nunc pro tunc assignment signed 27 Aug 2018 and recorded 17 Jul 2019 | USPTO, reel 6696 frame 0197 |
| 30 Jan 2019 | INVISTA completes the sale to an affiliate of Shandong Ruyi Investment Holding | Koch release |
| 12 May 2019 | A&AT LLC changes its name to The LYCRA Company LLC, recorded 2 Aug 2019 | USPTO, reel 6711 frame 0347 |
The LYCRA Company LLC is the owner of record of all three US registrations below. The register does not say who owns The LYCRA Company itself, and this page does not go further than the register.
Tactel’s US trademark registrations
| Registration | Goods | Filed | Registered | Status on 4 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1360627 | Yarns | 3 Dec 1984 (ICI) | 17 Sep 1985 | Cancelled on 11 Jul 2026 because the registrant did not file an acceptable Section 8 declaration |
| 2556471 | Yarn used as an integral part of clothing, from shirts and tights to bathing suits, bras, shapewear, sports bras and socks | 14 Dec 1998 (DuPont) | 2 Apr 2002 | Live, renewed |
| 3720954 | Raw fibrous textile materials; synthetic fibres and filaments for making fabrics, textiles and yarns | 6 Nov 2008 (INVISTA) | 8 Dec 2009 | Live, renewed on 30 Dec 2019 |
What the owner sells under the name today
On 4 October 2026 the brand’s own site lists one product, TACTEL® fibre. It says some products qualify for co-branding with COOLMAX® fibre, and it suggests pairing the nylon with LYCRA® ADAPTIV fibre in activewear and LYCRA XTRA LIFE® fibre in swimwear. The owner’s LYCRA ONE page also describes TACTEL® EcoMade fibre, made with 50 % pre-consumer waste and certified to the Global Recycled Standard.
Older labels and spec sheets may carry names that the owner’s current pages no longer use. INVISTA’s 2008 site dated TACTEL® micro to 1988, TACTEL® diabolo to 1994 and TACTEL® strata to 1997 (history page), and its portfolio sheets described strata as giving two-tone marl and heather effects. In 2008 INVISTA’s site called its plant at Gloucester in the UK the main production centre for the fibre; today the owner names Monterrey.
Where Tactel is used
The owner lists swimwear, intimates, underwear, activewear, shapewear, workwear and outerwear, and names performance wovens as a further end use. The goods named in US registration 2556471 give a longer list: shirts, shorts, slacks, trousers, tights and leggings, pantyhose, bathing suits, bras, underwear, slips, camisoles, girdles and shapewear, sports bras, leotards, bike shorts, T-shirts and socks. Ski-wear and sweaters were struck from that list. The owner also says the fibre complies with the USMCA, DR-CAFTA, US–Colombia and US–Peru trade agreements, which is relevant to garment makers who claim preferential duty under them.
How Tactel has to appear on a label
A trade name is not a fibre name. Both the EU and the US require the fibre’s legal name on the fibre content label, and both allow a trademark only as an addition to it. “100% Tactel” is not a valid fibre description in either market: the EU allows only the names in Annex I (Article 5(1)), and the US requires the generic name of every fibre making up 5 % or more of the fibre weight (16 CFR 303.6(a)).
| Market | Generic name required | May the trade name appear, and how | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | “polyamide” or “nylon”, with the percentage by weight of every fibre in descending order. “100 %” only if the product is made of that fibre alone, with a small tolerance for unavoidable extraneous fibres | Yes. A trade mark may be placed immediately before or after the fibre composition. Other information must be shown separately. The composition must be easy to read, in print of uniform size, style and font, and visible before purchase, online too, in the official language or languages of the member state where it is sold unless that state provides otherwise | Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Annex I No 30; Articles 5, 7(1), 9(1), 16(1) to 16(3) |
| United States | “nylon”, with the percentage by weight of each fibre of 5 % or more, in order of predominance. A truthful descriptive term may be added to the generic name; the rule’s own example is “100 percent nylon 66”. Section 303.7 also adopts the generic names in ISO 2076:2013, a paid standard this page has not read, so check it before using another name | Yes. A non-deceptive fibre trademark may be used next to the generic name, which must appear in immediate conjunction with it, in type of equal size and conspicuousness. The full fibre content must be given the first time the trademark appears on the label | 16 CFR 303.7(i); 303.16(a)(1), (d); 303.17(a) to (c) |
In practice, for a knit of 82 % TACTEL® nylon and 18 % elastane:
- EU label: “82 % polyamide, 18 % elastane”, with TACTEL® placed directly before or after the composition, never in place of “polyamide”.
- US label: “82% TACTEL® nylon, 18% spandex”, with “TACTEL®” and “nylon” in the same type size. “Spandex” is a US generic name for that fibre (16 CFR 303.7(k)).
- US hang tag: a tag that names only TACTEL® need not give the full content, but because the garment holds another fibre the tag must say clearly that it does not give the full fibre content (303.17(b)).
- Do not call it “nylon 6,6” on that label unless you know it is. The descriptive term in 303.16(d) must be true, and as noted above the brand owner does not say which polyamide classic TACTEL® fibre is.
The brand’s owner in 2008, INVISTA, gave similar advice in its trademark guide: state the generic fibre type on sewn-in labels, for example “100% TACTEL® nylon (or polyamide)”, and never write “tactel” as an adjective, a plural or part of a compound word. India has no notified rule on fibre names on labels that we could find on 4 October 2026, so it is not in the table.
Caring for garments made with Tactel
The owner says TACTEL® fibre is easy care, shrink resistant and colour fast, and that it “easily withstands washing”. It does not publish washing temperatures or ironing settings for the fibre on its pages. The right care depends on the whole garment, including any elastane, trims and finishes, so follow the garment’s own care label.
In the US the Care Labeling Rule requires makers and importers to attach a care label to textile clothing, in general with a washing or a dry cleaning instruction, that can be seen or easily found at the point of sale (16 CFR 423.6). The EU regulation deals with fibre names, fibre composition labels, non-textile parts of animal origin and fibre analysis (Article 1); care instructions are not among its requirements.
How this page is kept
Last verified: 4 October 2026. Brand facts come from the brand owner’s own pages, INVISTA’s brand site as archived in 2008, DuPont’s SEC filings, the INVISTA and Koch releases, and the USPTO trademark register, each linked where it is used. The label rules come from Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 as consolidated on 15 February 2018 and from 16 CFR Parts 303 and 423 as published on 1 October 2026. Product claims are the owner’s and are attributed to it. This page describes what the rules say; it is not legal advice for a particular product, label or shipment. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.
