Trademark Class 23: Yarns and threads

Yarns and threads for textile use.

What class 23 covers

Class 23 is one of the 45 international classes used by the USPTO and most trademark offices worldwide, under the Nice Classification. Classes 1 to 34 cover goods — physical products — and classes 35 to 45 cover services. Class 23 is a goods class.

You register a mark for particular goods or services, not in the abstract. That is why the same word can be owned by unrelated businesses in different classes, and why picking the right class matters as much as picking the right name.

Typically included in class 23

Sewing thread
Knitting and crochet yarn
Embroidery thread
Industrial textile yarns
Elastic and specialty threads

Business types that usually file here

Yarn manufacturers
Craft and hobby suppliers
Sewing notion brands
Industrial thread makers
Independent dyers

Notable brands operating in class 23

Companies whose goods or services fall wholly or partly within this class. This is a list of well-known names in the space, not a ranking — there is no authoritative public measure of trademark "size", and most of these businesses hold registrations across several classes rather than this one alone.

Coats Group
Gütermann
DMC
Lion Brand Yarn
Red Heart
Bernat
Caron
Patons
Malabrigo
Cascade Yarns
Berroco
Knit Picks
Hobby Lobby
Michaels
Jo-Ann
Yarnspirations
Rowan
Debbie Bliss
Noro
Madelinetosh
Brooklyn Tweed
Purl Soho
WeCrochet
Mettler
American & Efird

Choosing the right class

Three mistakes cost applicants the most in this area:

Filing in too few classes. If you sell a product and also provide a service around it, that is often two classes. Registering only one leaves the other unprotected.
Filing in too many. Each class costs a separate fee, and the USPTO expects you to be using the mark, or to have a genuine intent to use it, for everything you list.
Ignoring related classes. Examiners routinely treat certain classes as related — clothing and clothing retail, for instance, or food products and restaurant services. A conflict in a related class can block you just as effectively as one in your own.

Our search checks related classes automatically, so a conflict in an adjacent class shows up rather than being silently ignored.