Tailorlux

What Tailorlux does

Tailorlux GmbH is a Münster-based chemical engineering company founded in 2009 as a spin-off from Fachhochschule Münster, developing invisible chemical marking solutions using inorganic luminescent pigments (phosphors) that create unique, machine-readable optical fingerprints for product authentication, traceability, and anti-counterfeiting. The core technology combines proprietary phosphor markers integrated into materials as masterbatches, additives, or coatings with a family of spectroscopic detection sensors (Tailor Scan) operating on a proprietary key-lock principle. The company's portfolio centers on three branded product lines: Tailor-Safe® for general counterfeit protection (court-admissible under German law since 2013/2016), integriTEX® for textile fiber traceability, and integriSEED® for seed variety protection, with additional application-specific solutions for polymers, glass, ceramics, adhesives, coatings, automotive components, and recycling.

The company operates a B2B enterprise sales model serving brand owners, manufacturers, and recyclers across at least seven verticals (textiles, automotive, recycling, medical devices, seeds, aerospace, energy storage), with named customers including Continental, Birla, 11TeamSports, Greenpack, Tejidos Royo, and Nycote. Revenue is generated through customized one-time marking solution licenses, hardware sales of spectroscopic sensors, technology licensing royalties (notably an exclusive NCR Corporation patent license for the US market), and laboratory testing services delivered through partners such as Eurofins. Pricing is quote-based with marking costs typically in the promille range (0.1-0.9%) of product costs, and contracts are typically multi-year. Tailorlux has cumulatively implemented its technology in 1,200+ product lines since founding and pursues growth through a partnership ecosystem spanning STEINERT (sorting equipment), Eurofins (testing), Circularise (blockchain), Nycote (aerospace coatings), and regional channel partners.

Name

Tailorlux

Legal name

Tailorlux GmbH

Website

https://tailorlux.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tailorlux is a Münster-based chemical engineering company developing invisible luminescent pigment markers and spectroscopic detection sensors that provide court-admissible authentication, traceability, and anti-counterfeiting for industrial customers across textiles, automotive, recycling, and aerospace.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Anti-Counterfeiting Materials & Product Authentication

NAICS

Synthetic Dye and Pigment Manufacturing (32513)

SIC

Miscellaneous Chemical Products (2890)

akta.pro primary industry

Security, Tamper-Evident & Track-and-Trace Printing (IMALAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Anti-Counterfeit & Authentication Packaging (Holograms, QR/NFC, Track-and-Trace) (IMALANAJ)

Keywords

• Anti-counterfeiting marking
• Luminescent pigment tracers
• Product authentication
• Spectroscopic detection sensors
• Supply chain traceability

Headquarters

HQ city

Münster

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Product & License Protection Solutions: Revenue from customized marking solutions tailored to individual customer products. Solutions include pigments, masterbatches, or integrated tracer systems with associated detection equipment.
2. Detection Equipment & Sensors: Sale of proprietary spectroscopic sensors (Tailor Scan family) including handheld devices and inline systems for verification of marked products.
3. Technology Licensing: Exclusive licensing of proprietary technology including NCR Corporation patent license for US market distribution of IntegriTEX solutions, with ongoing royalty payments.
4. Laboratory Testing Services: Forensic analysis services for customer samples to verify product authenticity or investigate suspected counterfeiting, as exemplified by seed testing services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tailorlux develops and sells concealed chemical marking solutions based on proprietary inorganic luminescent pigments that create unique, invisible optical fingerprints integrated into customer products (textiles, polymers, seeds, paints, metals, glass). The offering combines custom-tailored marker materials (masterbatches, pigments, coatings) with proprietary spectroscopic detection sensors (Tailor Scan family) for counterfeit protection, authentication, and supply chain traceability. Solutions are court-admissible under German law and deployed across more than 1,200 product lines in industries including automotive, textiles, recycling, medical devices, and aerospace.

Product overview

Tailorlux is a material integrity and product authentication company offering a unified portfolio of marking and detection solutions. The core offering centers on Tailor-Safe® for counterfeit protection and court-admissible authenticity verification, complemented by IntegriTEX® for textile fiber traceability and IntegriSEED® for seed marking. Detection hardware includes the Tailor Scan sensor family. The company provides invisible chemical marking using inorganic luminescent pigments integrated directly into materials, with spectral signatures spanning UV, visible, and near-infrared ranges. Applications span multiple industries including textiles, polymers, glass/ceramics, automotive, recycling, and medical devices. The company also develops Special Phosphors as a separate product line for security and authentication applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tailor-Safe®: Product protection solution using luminescent pigments that create a unique, unforgeable optical fingerprint integrated directly into materials for counterfeit protection and authenticity verification.
• integriTEX©
• Tailor Scan
• IntegriSEED®

Products and services

• Tailor-Safe®
• IntegriTEX®
• IntegriSEED®
• Tailor Scan 4
• Chemical Marking
• Special Phosphors
• Laboratory Testing Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully implemented in 1200+ product lines
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Eurofins Textile Testing SpaincoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Tailorlux and Eurofins signed Memorandum of Understanding for digital fiber verification. Eurofins provides laboratory testing services and audits of spinning facilities, complementing Tailorlux's tracer technology. Eurofins is the first company to offer this new path of textile transparency with complementary lab services. Customers can send samples to Eurofins laboratories for tracer verification.
• Tejidos RoyocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Collaboration to develop traceable and low-emission European cotton denim fabric. Spanish cotton producer marks cotton bales with Tailorlux tracer fibers. Tejidos Royo uses this marked cotton with their patented foam dyeing technology to produce environmentally friendly denim. Tailorlux proprietary IntegriTEX technology combined with blockchain tokenization detects material dilution from yarn to garment.
• STEINERT UniSortcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Collaboration to enable standard NIR sorting technology to recognize Tailorlux markers. STEINERT developed software update allowing existing sorting equipment to detect marked products. This enables identification of non-recyclable packaging for proper sorting without requiring hardware modifications. Winner of German Packaging Award Gold 2021.
• Demcon MIMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to produce marked metal injection molding (MIM) parts. Demcon MIM mixes Tailorlux fluorescent microparticles into their material formulation. The pre-product is formed, debound, and sintered using conventional methods. The resulting metal part produces clear signal of the fluorescent microparticles when scanned. Applications in luxury goods and high-standards traceability.
• tapdominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to develop method for proving recycled plastic fiber usage. Companies combined expertise to create solution for identifying recycled content in products.
• NycotecoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerNycote presents Tailorlux optical fingerprint as their Tracesafe product at aerospace conferences. Cooperation combines smart chemical markers with Nycote's advanced surface coating solutions. Marking is integrated into epoxy resin for aerospace applications.
• Fischbach KGcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPackaging producer collaboration for marking solutions. Partnership with Tailorlux and Steinert resulted in German Packaging Award Gold 2021 for sorting innovation enabling identification of non-recyclable packaging materials.
• Fraunhofer AWZ SoestcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on luminescent glasses development for product protection. Fraunhofer-Anwendungszentrum für Anorganische Leuchtstoffe patented the technology; Tailorlux uses it to protect products like plastics, fibers, and resins through product marking.
• Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDBU provided technical and financial support for development of organic cotton marking procedure. Project enables traceability of bio-cotton through tracer fibers.
• Augusto Bellini, s.l.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSpanish representative for Tailorlux in Spain, supporting market development and customer relations in the region.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• SICPA: Swiss-based global leader in security inks and authentication solutions for banknotes, brand protection, and excise tax tracing. Directly comparable to Tailorlux as a security/anti-counterfeiting technology provider, though operating at far greater scale and breadth.
• Domino Printing Sciences: UK-based global manufacturer of industrial coding and marking equipment (inkjet, laser) for product identification and traceability across consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and industrial supply chains. Adjacent peer — competes for the same product-marking budget but uses different underlying technology.
• Stevanato Group: Italian provider of pharmaceutical packaging, glass primary containers, and drug delivery systems with growing track-and-trace capabilities for pharma. Comparable to Tailorlux in regulated, compliance-driven traceability solutions, though in pharma rather than multi-vertical manufacturing.
• TraceLink: US-based pharmaceutical serialization and supply chain traceability platform serving serialization and compliance use cases at scale. Comparable to Tailorlux's regulatory-driven traceability vision, though digitally rather than chemically anchored.

Emerging players

• Applied DNA Sciences: US-based molecular authentication company using DNA-based markers for textiles, supply chain integrity, and brand protection. Directly competitive with Tailorlux's luminescent-pigment approach at the same authentication-and-traceability use cases.
• DataLase: UK-based provider of laser-activated marking technology for inline product coding and authentication on packaging and labels. Comparable niche player offering covert, inline-capable marking solutions for anti-counterfeiting and traceability use cases overlapping with Tailorlux.

Direct peers

• AlpVision: Swiss provider of digital anti-counterfeiting and authentication technologies (cryptoglyph, hidden marks, mobile verification). A peer in offering covert authentication for brand protection and product traceability.
• Spectra Systems Corporation: UK-listed provider of covert authentication and security features for banknotes, documents, and consumer goods. Comparable to Tailorlux as a specialty authentication technology company addressing counterfeiting in regulated and consumer verticals.
• U-NICA: Swiss provider of chemical-based product authentication (SigNature DNA and molecular markers) integrated into materials and packaging. Closely comparable to Tailorlux in applying covert chemical markers to a wide range of substrates for anti-counterfeiting.
• Authentix: US-based authentication and traceability provider serving oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods with covert markers and detection systems. Directly comparable to Tailorlux in offering integrated marking plus detection for supply chain integrity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookde-de.facebook.com/tailorlux
• LinkedInde.linkedin.com/company/tailorlux-gmbh---intelligent-materials

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tailorlux