Polyamide (nylon): what is it?

Polyamide (nylon): what is it?

Abrasion-resistant and quick to dry, polyamide, also called nylon, is the synthetic fibre behind many windbreakers, puffer jackets, caps and leggings. At tknp.io, 151 of the 4,287 references list it in their composition, and embroidery can be ordered online on 149 of them.

The essentials:

• Polyamide or nylon, it is one synthetic fibre: abrasion-resistant and quick to dry, but not very absorbent and sensitive to heat.
• At tknp.io, polyamide is found mostly in jackets (67 references), caps and hats (18) and bags (17).
• Of the 151 tknp.io references that list polyamide in their composition, 149 can be embroidered online; jackets also take softshell print, bags DTF transfer and screen printing.
• At Stanley/Stella, the four recycled nylon puffer jackets and gilets read for this article are washed at 30 °C, with no tumble dryer.

A windbreaker that folds into its own pocket, a cap made of waterproof fabric, leggings that stretch with every move: behind these three garments to customise there is often the same fibre, polyamide. Here is what it is, what it brings to your club's or your team's merch, what it dislikes, and how to decorate it and wash it.

What is polyamide?

Polyamide is a synthetic textile fibre, made by chemistry, whose long molecule repeats amide bonds. EU regulation 1007/2011, which sets the fibre names allowed on labels, describes it as a fibre made of long synthetic molecules in which these amide bonds recur all along the chain.

It belongs to the family of synthetic fibres, along with polyester, elastane and acrylic. According to Wikipedia, the first nylon was made on 28 February 1935 in Wallace Carothers' laboratory at the American company DuPont; around the same time, the German chemist Paul Schlack obtained another polyamide, named Perlon.

Polyamide and nylon: are they the same thing?

Yes, for your garments, polyamide and nylon mean the same material: nylon has become the everyday name of the polyamide family. At tknp.io, the composition shown under each tile of the catalogue always says "polyamide", but 18 of the 151 English product pages concerned use the word "nylon" in their description, like the Puffer Gilet 2.0, which Stanley/Stella describes as made "in recycled nylon".

What are the advantages of polyamide?

The advantages of polyamide are that it resists abrasion well, recovers its shape and dries fast. According to Wikipedia, in its English and French versions, it offers excellent abrasion resistance, high elongation and a good ability to recover its shape, and since it absorbs little water, it dries quickly, hence its place in windbreakers.

Two of our product pages highlight this quick drying: Build Your Brand's Swim Shorts, whose fabric "dries quickly", and Spiro's Bodyfit leggings, with their "Quick Dry fast-drying treatment".

What are the drawbacks of polyamide?

Polyamide has two limits worth knowing before you order: it absorbs little sweat and it dislikes heat. Wikipedia notes that, because it does not soak up sweat, it can feel clammy and develops odours faster than cotton, a point to weigh for a garment worn through a whole day of sport; and when heated, it melts instead of burning.

On four recycled nylon puffer jackets and gilets from Stanley/Stella, the care symbols limit the iron to 110 °C or rule it out, and the printing guides ask, for a transfer, for a glue applied at 130 °C at most.

Then there is the rain: on several of our product pages, what protects a polyamide jacket from water is a treatment the page names, like the "fluorocarbon-free water-repellent finish" of Stanley/Stella's Stanley Climber 2.0 gilet or the "matt waterproof coating" of Pen Duick's Targy gilet.

Which garments contain polyamide?

At tknp.io, polyamide is found mostly in jackets, caps and bags. On 23 October 2026, 151 of the 4,287 references in the catalogue showed it in the short composition under their tile, 94 of them in 100% polyamide.

The short composition under the tile never names more than two fibres: a garment where polyamide only comes third is not in this count, and the full composition is on the model's product page, as our guide to reading a textile product page shows.

Polyamide is also used for socks, swimwear and leotards, and the catalogue follows: socks containing 16 to 29% of it, swim shorts (Build Your Brand's Swim Shorts, 100% polyamide) and a unitard (Tombo's Ladies' Unitard, 92% polyamide).

Why is polyamide blended with elastane?

Polyamide and elastane come together in close-fitting sportswear that has to stretch: 14 of the 151 tknp.io references pair polyamide with elastane, like Spiro's Bodyfit leggings and shorts (80% polyamide, 20% elastane, "Micro Soft stretch fabric") or Just Cool's Women's Cool Sports Crop Top (90% and 10%, "stretch fabric"). What elastane changes in a garment, percentage by percentage, has its own article.

Which decoration suits a polyamide garment?

At tknp.io, embroidery can be ordered online on 149 of the 151 references that list polyamide in their composition; printing, for its part, changes with the garment family. The product pages read on 23 October 2026 break down as follows:

• Jackets and puffer jackets (67 references): softshell print and embroidery online, patch on quote.
• Caps, hats and beanies (29 references): embroidery online, patch on quote.
• Bags (17 references), bottoms, T-shirts, sweatshirts, towels and a kids' garment (29 references): DTF transfer, screen printing and embroidery online.
• Socks (7 references): DTF transfer and embroidery online.

The manufacturer Stanley/Stella goes further for four of its recycled nylon puffer jackets and gilets, the Puffer 2.0, Puffer Gilet 2.0, Stanley Voyager 2.0 and Stanley Climber 2.0. Their printing guides rate embroidery and transfers as "excellent", advise against direct screen printing, which needs special low-curing inks, and rate direct-to-garment printing (DTG) as not applicable. For a transfer, they ask for a glue designed to be applied at 130 °C at most and recommend an anti-migration layer, because the polyester in the padding can bleed its colour into the print. At tknp.io, the softshell print on our jackets includes, according to its page, an anti-migration layer that stops the fabric colour from seeping into the logo.

How much does a custom polyamide garment cost?

At tknp.io, on 23 October 2026 and for guidance only, Beechfield's Outdoor 6 Panel Cap, in polyamide, costs €9.62 excluding VAT with an 8 x 10 cm embroidery for 50 units, cap included; Tee Jays' Purelite Jacket, under the same conditions, €63.32 excluding VAT. Here is the price of four models read on their product pages:

These amounts are our prices for guidance only, as shown on tknp.io product pages on 23 October 2026: excluding VAT, per unit, garment and 8 x 10 cm embroidery included, for a single position and at the standard lead time, with shipping extra and the base colourway, the most accessible one on each page. Except for the cap, which is one size, these prices apply to standard sizes, with a surcharge on larger sizes and on some colours.

How do you wash a polyamide garment?

A polyamide garment is washed according to its care label, and at Stanley/Stella, the recycled nylon puffer jackets and gilets (Puffer 2.0, Puffer Gilet 2.0, Stanley Voyager 2.0 and Stanley Climber 2.0) have a washing temperature of 30 °C, with no bleach, no dry cleaning and no tumble dryer, according to the care symbols on their pages. Instructions change from one model to another.

Ironing depends on the model: 110 °C at most for the Puffer 2.0, no ironing for the Voyager and the Climber, according to the same symbols. For the Puffer Gilet 2.0, it is safer not to iron it: its symbol shows 110 °C, but its English page says "No ironing". The tknp.io product pages of these four models add washing similar colours together and inside out; for ironing, follow the symbol of the other three models. The English page of the Puffer Gilet 2.0 also advises closing the zips before washing. To decode these symbols on the label of any garment, see our guide to care label symbols.

Is polyamide eco-friendly?

No, not for most of it: in 2024, more than 97% of the polyamide fibre produced worldwide was neither recycled nor bio-based, according to the 2025 edition of Textile Exchange's annual materials report, the Materials Market Report, and recycled polyamide accounted for only about 2.3% of it, around 0.2 million tonnes out of 7 million, bio-based polyamide for about 0.4%. Like other synthetic fibres, polyamide is also among the recognised sources of microplastics, through wearing as well as washing, according to the European Environment Agency.

Polyamide is the second most used synthetic fibre, with about 5% of the fibres produced worldwide in 2024, far behind polyester and its 59%, according to the same report.

What is recycled polyamide?

Recycled polyamide is made from waste rather than new material: production scraps and fabric cut-offs before use, or, after use, fishing nets, carpets and old textiles, recycled mechanically or chemically, according to Textile Exchange, which names the GRS and RCS standards to certify it.

At tknp.io, B&C's Reset Bodywarmer gilet is "made from post-consumer nylon waste", Stanley/Stella's 2.0 puffer jackets and gilets are in recycled nylon, and the product page of Tee Jays' Purelite Jacket says "certified recycled polyamide". These mentions describe the model's fabric as its brand presents it.

A polyamide collection that grows season after season

A windbreaker for spring, a puffer gilet for winter, a cap for summer: polyamide dresses a club or a team from one season to the next. At tknp.io, each customised garment is saved with its logo in your account's dressing, and the collection builds up there season after season, from B&C's Air windbreaker to the puffer gilet, each one ready to be reordered.

Each model can be ordered decorated from 10 units, whichever technique you choose, and sizes and colours can be mixed; so your winter collection does not have to wait for a big order to exist.