Fibre encyclopedia
Lyocell
Also called lyocell · TENCEL · CLY · TENCEL Lyocell · lyocell TENCEL
Regenerated cellulose dissolved in an organic solvent without forming a derivative. TENCEL is a brand name for it, which is why one cloth can carry two names.
Class
Regenerated
Comes from
From dissolved plant pulp
Where it comes from
The labelling definition is precise about the chemistry and silent about the plumbing: lyocell is cellulose dissolved in an organic solvent and spun, with no derivative formed along the way. How much of that solvent a mill recovers differs from mill to mill and does not appear on any label.
How it feels to wear
Air
Air moves through the fibre easily
Water
Takes water into the fibre
Heat
Lets body heat go
Stretch
No stretch of its own
Wear
Holds up to ordinary rubbing
Lyocell absorbs like the other cellulosics and holds more of its strength wet than viscose does. The fibre tends to fibrillate, meaning the surface splits into finer hairs under wet rubbing, which is what gives an aged lyocell its peached surface.
Care
- Machine wash cool on a gentle cycle.
- Wash inside out to slow the surface change.
- Dry in shade and iron at a medium setting.
Wet rubbing is what changes the surface, so a full machine drum does more to lyocell than a hot one does.
End of life
Recycling route
Chemical recycling
Lyocell enters the same dissolving route as the other cellulosics where sorted cellulosic waste is collected, and that collection is what limits it rather than the chemistry.
In a blend
The cellulose route needs cellulose, so a lyocell and polyester blend does not reach it.
Skin notes
Mechanical
Smooth fine fibre with no mechanical prickle route. Fibrillation makes the surface finer rather than coarser.
Chemical
Dyes and finishes are undeclared here as everywhere else.
If your skin reacts to a garment, a dermatologist and patch testing are what can answer it. A label cannot, and neither can this page.
What the label cannot tell you
The label says lyocell, or a brand name for it. It does not say how much of the solvent the mill recovered, which is the whole reason the process is described the way it is.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling, Annex I. Checked 22 August 2026
- ISO 2076:2021, Textiles, man-made fibres, generic names. Checked 22 August 2026
Written from primary sources and in our own words. Where a figure could not be traced to a source anyone can open, it is not printed here.
Read the label you are holding
The scan surface reads one care label and names which questions it answers and which it leaves out. A passport says for one specific piece what a label cannot: the composition with its percentages, where the cloth came from, who worked on it, how to repair it and where it goes next.