Tacky Tape vacuum bag sealing tapes for aerospace composites continue a legacy

We recently had an opportunity to learn more about Tacky Tape – a 60-year-old brand name in products for composite curing applications – from Lauren Pagano, president of the spin-off company now parenting the trusted brand.

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design (AM&D): The company that has marketed Tacky Tape – Holcim – has spun off this brand to a newly formed U.S. company, Amrize, effective June 23, 2025. Can you tell us more?
Lauren Pagano: The new company, Amrize, is focused on building materials and building envelope in the U.S. and Canada, and Tacky Tapeis a brand within the Amrize Building Envelope portfolio. My division covers several brands, primarily in adhesives, coatings, sealants, and spray foam insulation and is focused on building envelope solutions. But we do have some specialty materials, like Tacky Tape, for aerospace applications, as a sealant tape for vacuum bagging composite parts, performing in high-heat oven and autoclave cures.

PHOTO CREDIT: Amrize Building Envelope

Tacky Tape essentially has set the standard in vacuum bagging tape for more than 60 years. The name itself has become synonymous with the product because it's got that equity in it, and it's got performance in this application, which is a powerful testament to the brand's leadership and influence.

AM&D: Aerospace standards such as AS9100D emphasize product identification and traceability throughout the production lifecycle. What does Tacky Tape offer to allow traceability?
Lauren: While Tacky Tape isn’t a product that takes flight with the airplane, it’s used in the manufacturing process of composite parts that do. It's sourced and manufactured in the U.S. We take pride in our ability to trace the source of the origin of supplied raw materials through the finished product that gets shipped to customers. Traceability sticks with each roll of the product, so even after it's removed from the original packaging, you can find the batch ID number engraved in the core of every single role of this product, and you can link each roll to the manufacturing date, the inspection date, the raw material, batch code, the expiration date, ship date, quantity, shipped customer name and even the employee who manufactured the batch. Every bit of data is recorded while the product is under our control. Those records can be supplied to the end user on request.

AM&D: How are you addressing the need to promote the brand to people new to aerospace who may not have heard of you or are only slightly familiar with Tacky Tape?
Lauren: We did a significant brand refresh across our portfoliothat launched early last year. We kept the Tacky Tape name, but we refreshed the logo to make it a bit more modernand forward-looking. We're reflecting our growth, our innovation, our vision for the future, but also maintaining and reinforcing our trusted performance that we've had for 60 years.While many building and architectural products were unified under the Gaco brand, we made a deliberate decision to retain the Tacky Tape brand identity to continue serving the highly specified aerospace and composites market.

AM&D: How do you get your product in front of potential customers?
Lauren: We have a dedicated team that are subject matter experts in this space. They're very connected to the industry, very connected to our OEM partners and potentially new customers. Because of that trusted performance that’s already established, we can capture new business as a result and get our name out there.

AM&D: Gaco is the adhesives and sealants brand family of Amrize. How does Tacky Tape fit in?
Lauren: Our products are primarily in the building envelope solutions market, but we do have an industrial part of our business that addresses the aerospace, maritime, and petroleum industries, and Tacky Tape falls under that specialty segment. We’ve made a deliberate decision to have these specialty businesses retain their brands along with a dedicated sales team, because it does require specialists and subject matter expertise. We’re maintaining the brands, maintaining the dedicated sales team, and then applying our go-to market strategy accordingly to those markets. Tacky Tape bagging tapes for the aerospace and composite industries fall under Gaco Industrial Solutions.

AM&D: How are you expanding or renewing awareness of the brand in aerospace?
Lauren: There are no changes in how we manufacture the product, especially for aerospace applications, because that consistency is absolutely critical in this space. The formulation, manufacturing process, and manufacturing location all remain the same. We're maintaining the foundation that's already been built and then building upon that. We continue to invest and keep this brand as it is and the products as they are because they are established. It's what has given us strength in our applications and in this market.

AM&D: Are you going to have a greater presence at trade shows, new advertising, other promotions or outreach plans?
Lauren: We're always evaluating where we are present, and where we need to be present, and how we look at other applications we can go into. Our teams are constantly in the industry, at the trade shows, and connected with associations. With Amrize, and with our continued commitment and focus on this space, we'll look at all opportunities and continue to both push and pull our products and brands in the marketplace.

AM&D: How is Tacky Tape contributing to sustainability in aerospace?
Lauren: Sustainability continues to be an area where we have goals; product life cycle management is part of our language. It’s part of our world, both in the building material side and in the specialty markets. It’s something we take responsibility for, and it’s part of our core values at Amrize. Even in our manufacturing process, we take responsibility for what goes to the landfill.