YKK makes zippers found on garments across the entire planet, and almost nobody who owns one of those garments could name the company. That's the character of Nice Class 26 — the notions and haberdashery class, covering lace and embroidery as finished trimmings, ribbons and braid, buttons, hooks, eyes, zippers, pins, needles, and artificial flowers. It's the small, decorative, and functional components sewn onto everything else rather than the finished goods themselves.
Component, Not Garment
The class sits near the end of the textile chain — after thread (Class 23) and fabric (Class 24), but distinct from the finished clothing they eventually become (Class 25). The test is component versus finished product: a zipper or button is Class 26, but the garment it's sewn onto is Class 25. A notions supplier files in Class 26; a clothing brand files in Class 25; a company making both branded fasteners and garments needs both registrations, not one covering the other.
Where Thread Ends and Trimming Begins
The boundary that causes the most confusion runs between Class 23 and Class 26, and it's a subtler one than most textile-chain boundaries. Yarn and thread — the spun material — are Class 23. Once that thread has been worked into a finished decorative object, like embroidered trimming or lace, it becomes Class 26 output rather than Class 23 input. Embroidery thread itself stays Class 23 right up until it's finished into something. Our Class 23 guide covers the thread stage in full, and our Class 25 guide covers what happens once the garment is actually assembled.
A couple of smaller distinctions worth knowing: decorative pins and hair ornaments belong here, but anything that reads as jewelry rather than a sewing notion moves to Class 14 instead. And artificial flowers are Class 26, while natural, fresh flowers are Class 31 as living agricultural products — the artificial-versus-living line, not the flower concept itself, decides the class.
Class 26 is anchored by two very different kinds of business: fastening and notions specialists supplying the garment industry at scale, and craft or sewing-supply brands serving hobbyists directly. YKK is the best-known name in the first category — a component maker whose product appears on more garments worldwide than any single clothing brand's name does.
Jewelry, Hair Accessories, and the Line That Isn't Always Obvious
The pin-versus-jewelry boundary deserves more attention than a single sentence, because it's the source of a genuinely common misfile. A decorative hairpin, barrette, or hair clip sold as a functional or mildly decorative sewing/grooming accessory is Class 26. The moment that same object is marketed and priced as jewelry — a bejeweled hair comb sold alongside earrings, say, rather than in a notions aisle — it typically belongs in Class 14 instead. There's no bright-line rule based on materials; a hairpin can be made of cheap plastic or genuine gold and land in either class depending on how it's positioned and sold. Brands that straddle both markets, selling a decorative hair-accessory line that reads as both craft-adjacent and fashion-adjacent, often end up filing in both classes to cover the ambiguity rather than betting on a single interpretation.
Buttons, Zippers, and the B2B Side of Fashion
Most people never think about who makes the zipper on their jacket, which is exactly the point: component brands in Class 26 build reputation with manufacturers and designers, not end consumers, and that changes how they name and protect their marks. YKK's naming is almost entirely initials-based and functional, which is typical of the fastener side of the class — descriptiveness refusals are rare because nobody's trying to squeeze a marketing claim into a zipper-pull stamp. The craft and hobby side of Class 26 behaves completely differently: ribbon, trim, and embroidery-supply brands sold direct to consumers through fabric stores and online marketplaces compete on the same descriptive-name pressures that hit any consumer packaged good, and "Premium Lace" or "Deluxe Trim" style names face the usual refusal risk for merely describing the goods rather than identifying their source.
Search registered Class 26 trademarks before you file, and check Class 23 through 25 as well if your business spans more than the trimmings stage alone.