By Lara Yehia, Cupindy Home & Kitchen Team · Last reviewed August 2026 · 13 min read
The short answer
According to the official settlement notice, a California class action alleged that HexClad cookware marketed as "non-toxic," "PFOA free" and "PFAS free" contained PTFE, a member of the PFAS family. The case was resolved by settlement, reported at $2.5 million. HexClad denied all allegations of wrongdoing and agreed, as part of the resolution, to stop using those phrases on products containing PTFE.
HexClad today describes the non-stick part of its pans as a proprietary ceramic coating called TerraBond, which it states on its own website is PTFE-free. So the honest answer depends on which version you are holding — and the good news is that a current listing tells you, if you know the three fields to read. That check is below and takes about thirty seconds.
On this page
1. What the settlement record says 2. What HexClad says it uses now 3. The 30-second check before you buy 4. The disclosure test for any brand 5. What we could not verify 6. Should you buy it? Plus three alternatives 7. Frequently asked questionsWritten by: Lara Yehia, Cupindy Home & Kitchen Team
Experience note: 8 years of experience creating home and kitchen product guidance, safety-focused buying content, and practical household-use articles for Cupindy readers.
Last reviewed: August 2026 — Reviewed for: public settlement record, current manufacturer statements, retail listing language, and published material disclosures.
Editorial note
This guide reports on publicly available documents. We did not test any pan in a laboratory. What we did was read the public settlement record, the manufacturers' own published statements, the live retail listings, and the chemical disclosures cookware brands publish under California law.
Where we could not verify something, we say so rather than filling the gap. Those places are marked.
We have no commercial relationship with any brand named here beyond the affiliate links disclosed below. Corrections and clarifications: [email protected].
Affiliate disclosure: Cupindy is a reader-supported independent research site. Some links in this article are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no additional cost to you. We do not accept payment for placement, and every product below carries a stated drawback. See our Affiliate Disclosure for full details.
What the settlement record says
Most articles on this topic mention "a lawsuit" without saying what was in it. Here is what the public record shows, attributed.
The case is reported as Cliburn et al. v. One Source to Market, LLC, Case No. 23STCV28390, filed in California state court. One Source to Market is the entity that does business as HexClad Cookware.
According to reporting on the case, the complaint alleged that HexClad marketed its cookware as "non-toxic," "metal utensil safe," and free of PFOA and PFAS, while the non-stick component contained polytetrafluoroethylene — PTFE. PTFE is a fluoropolymer within the PFAS family. The plaintiffs' position, as reported, was that a product containing a PFAS cannot accurately be described as PFAS-free.
The matter was resolved by settlement, reported at $2.5 million. Per the official settlement notice, the class covered purchases of eligible products between 1 February 2022 and 31 March 2024. The final fairness hearing was held on 15 September 2025 and the claim deadline was 14 November 2025 — both now closed, so this is background rather than an open opportunity.
Two points matter more than the figure.
First, HexClad denied the allegations. The settlement administrator's own notice states that the company "has denied any and all allegations of wrongdoing, fault, liability, or damage of any kind." A settlement is not a finding of liability, and nothing in this article should be read as one.
Second, the resolution included a change in advertising language. As reported, HexClad agreed to stop advertising products as "non-toxic," "PFOA free" or "PFAS free" if they contain PTFE or any chemical in the PFAS family.
That second point is the useful one, because it means the wording on a HexClad listing now carries information. This is a company operating under a defined set of rules about what it may say, which makes its published language more informative than most.
What HexClad says it uses now
HexClad pans are a hybrid design: a magnetic stainless steel base, an aluminium core, a stainless steel cooking surface, and a laser-etched hexagonal pattern of raised steel peaks with non-stick material in the valleys between them. The steel peaks are what allow metal utensils. The valleys are what release the food.
The valleys are the whole material question. The peaks are stainless steel.
On its current science page, HexClad describes what sits in those valleys as "our high-grade proprietary ceramic nonstick called TerraBond," and states that TerraBond is "PTFE-free and free from forever chemicals."
We checked that against the live retail listings in August 2026. Both the 12-inch Hybrid frying pan and the 4.5-quart Hybrid deep sauté carry the same sentence in their product descriptions: the surface "combines both stainless-steel and our TerraBond ceramic coating." The product details on the 12-inch list the materials as aluminium, ceramic and stainless steel.
HexClad 12-inch Hybrid listing, read August 2026. The coating is named; the warranty condition is easy to miss.
Worth knowing where to look: HexClad's affirmative "PTFE-free" statement appears on the company's own website, not in the retail listing copy. If that statement is what you want to read before buying, go to HexClad's science page for it — the marketplace listing describes the coating by name but does not repeat the chemical claim.
How to confirm what you are actually buying
This is worth doing on any pan, from any brand, and almost nobody does it.
Cookware manufacturers across the industry revise coatings, suppliers and specifications over time. Retail stock does not turn over on the same schedule — units sit in warehouses, in third-party seller inventory, and in clearance and open-box channels for a while afterwards. That is ordinary retail, not a scandal. But it does mean the pan in a given box is described by the listing you bought it from, and it is worth reading that listing carefully.
The 30-second cookware check
1. Find the coating named, not just described. Use Ctrl+F, or Command+F on a Mac, and search the page for the coating name — "TerraBond" for HexClad, "Thermolon" for GreenPan. A listing that names its coating is one you can research. "Non-stick" on its own tells you nothing.
2. Read the "Sold by" line, not just the brand at the top. A page can display a brand store link while a different seller fills the order, and which seller appears can change with your delivery address and over time.
3. Check what the warranty depends on. HexClad's own listing text states that its lifetime warranty covers "HexClad products that are sold by HexClad Cookware." If a different seller is filling your order, that condition is worth confirming before you buy. On a pan in this price bracket it is not a footnote.
4. Check the food-contact layer, not the product name. A listing will happily tell you a pan is "stainless steel" when the stainless is the exterior and something else touches your food. This catches people constantly.
5. If the specification matters to you, ask the seller. Message them and ask which coating the unit ships with. It is a fair question, and the answer — including no answer — tells you what you need.
The seller filling the order is not always the brand, and it can differ by delivery address. Worth a glance before you order.
Most of what you need to know about a pan is already published. Almost nobody reads it.
The disclosure test you can run on any cookware brand
There is a California law that makes material questions answerable, and hardly anyone uses it.
Assembly Bill 1200, the Safer Food Packaging and Cookware Act of 2021, requires cookware manufacturers to disclose intentionally added chemicals from a designated list on their own websites. It is not a warning label — it is a published document, and brands selling cookware into California fall within its reach.
Search the brand name plus "AB 1200," then read what the company publishes about its own products. Free, takes ten seconds, works on any brand.
Here is what a good one looks like, so you know what you are reading.
GreenPan publishes a full disclosure page. On the cooking surface it states: "The food contact surface of our Thermolon Ceramic Nonstick does not contain any of these chemicals." It then goes beyond what is required and voluntarily lists what is present in the layers beneath the cooking surface and in the handles — aluminium, chromium and chromium compounds, nickel and nickel compounds, iron, manganese and manganese compounds. And it adds a caveat we respect: "The presence of these chemicals does not mean that our cookware, bakeware, or appliances will pose a health risk with normal use."
Made In publishes one broken out by product category. Its disclosure identifies PTFE, FEP and PFA in its non-stick line specifically, and separates that from its stainless clad, ceramic, carbon steel, copper and enamelled cast iron ranges — so you can see which of its own products contain what.
Run the same search for any brand you are considering, including HexClad, and read what you find. A company that publishes a chemical inventory of its own handles is communicating differently from one that publishes nothing — though note that the law requires disclosure only where a listed chemical is present, so a brand with nothing on the list may have nothing to publish.
What we could not verify
Three things, stated openly, because articles claiming certainty they do not have are why this topic is such a mess.
1. We have not lab-tested any pan. Everything here comes from published documents and listings. If any coating differs from what its manufacturer publishes, nothing in this article would detect it.
2. We could not independently verify TerraBond's composition. HexClad describes it as proprietary and has not published a full formulation. That is common in the industry and is not in itself unusual.
3. We have not verified the 900°F oven-safe figure. HexClad states its pans are oven-safe to 900°F. It is a striking number for a coated pan, and a manufacturer would be unlikely to publish a figure that high for a PTFE-coated product — which lends some support to the PTFE-free description. But it is HexClad's figure, we have not seen the underlying test, and we are not repeating it as established fact.
If you want the underlying chemistry rather than the brand-specific story, our guides on what PFOA-free actually means and choosing non-toxic cookware cover the difference between PFOA, PFAS and PTFE properly.
So should you buy a HexClad?
For some people, yes. We are not going to pretend otherwise because it would make a tidier story.
HexClad does something genuinely unusual: it tolerates metal utensils, which almost no coated pan does, and it goes in the dishwasher. If those two things are why you were considering it, nothing below replaces it.
But there are facts worth having before you spend the money.
Two surfaces, two different questions. One wears out; the other never needs a disclosure.
| Pan | Cooking surface | Rating (Aug 2026) | Relative cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made In Stainless Clad 12" | Bare stainless, 5-ply | 4.5 (2,443) | Slightly less than HexClad |
| Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 10" | Bare 18/10 stainless | 4.3 (859) | About a quarter |
| HexClad Hybrid 12" | Steel peaks + TerraBond valleys | 4.0 (11,017) | Highest here |
| GreenPan Valencia Pro 12" | Thermolon ceramic | 3.9 (968) | About two-thirds |
Customer ratings read from live listings in August 2026 and will change. HexClad carries roughly four times as many ratings as Made In, and larger samples tend to settle lower than small ones — so read the spread as directional, not as a quality verdict. Check current ratings yourself before buying.
If you want the HexClad
HexClad Hybrid — the metal-utensil pan
Buy new, from a current listing, having run the thirty-second check above. The 12-inch Hybrid frying pan is the size most people reach for, and the 4.5-quart Hybrid deep sauté is the more versatile choice if you only buy one.
Drawback: the lifetime warranty, by HexClad's own listing wording, applies to products sold by HexClad Cookware. Marketplace listings are not always filled by the brand itself, and that can vary by delivery address and over time — so check the "Sold by" line on the day you order.
If you want no coating at all
Made In Stainless Clad 12-inch — the highest-rated pan here
Made In Stainless Clad 12-inch frying pan — five-ply, made in Italy, and when we checked in August 2026 it was sold by Made In directly. There is no coating, which removes the coating question entirely: nothing to wear through, nothing to look up. Amazon marks it "customers usually keep this item."
Drawback: the listing specifies "a top layer of 430 stainless steel," which is the magnetic exterior for induction — not the surface your food touches. The interior grade is not stated on the listing. At this price that is a documentation gap, and it is the same trap that catches people across cookware generally: the metal named in the description is often not the metal in contact with your dinner. Our guide to stainless steel grades in cookware explains which number to look for.
Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 10-inch — the best-documented pan here
Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad 10-inch frying pan — the value answer, and quietly the best-documented. The listing states 18/10 stainless steel outright, and describes the pan as NSF-certified, meaning an independent body tested it against a published food-equipment standard. It is the only product in this guide whose listing states a third-party certification of that kind.
Drawback: it is a 10-inch pan against HexClad's 12-inch, so not a like-for-like swap. It is not non-stick, and eggs will stick until you learn to preheat properly — a real skill, not an insult, and our guide on why stainless steel pans stick is the fix. It also has a 500°F oven ceiling and a much smaller review base.
If you want actual non-stick performance
GreenPan Valencia Pro 12-inch — the transparent one
GreenPan Valencia Pro 12-inch — sol-gel ceramic, and the brand publishes the AB 1200 disclosure described above. Its listing states plainly: "Our signature ceramic nonstick coating is free of PFAS, PFOA, lead or cadmium." That is a specific claim naming four chemicals, which is a more useful thing to read than a vague reassurance.
Drawback, and it is significant: this is the lowest-rated pan in the comparison, and the likeliest reason is well understood among cooks — ceramic non-stick loses its release over time, and careful handling slows that without stopping it. Treat it as a consumable you will eventually replace, not a lifetime pan. If that trade is unacceptable, buy uncoated. Our guide to ceramic cookware covers how to get the most life out of one.
One pan we deliberately left out
Carbon steel gets recommended constantly in articles like this one, and we were going to recommend it too. Then we looked at a widely sold carbon steel skillet and found Amazon displaying a "frequently returned item" notice on that listing, with a suggestion to consider similar products with lower return rates. We cannot see the return reasons, but the likeliest explanation is familiar: bare carbon steel arrives unseasoned, food sticks badly at first, and buyers assume the pan is faulty. It is a genuinely excellent surface for someone willing to season and maintain it, and a poor recommendation for someone switching away from a dishwasher-safe hybrid pan. We would rather say that than send you to something you will send back. Our carbon steel versus cast iron comparison is the honest introduction if you are curious.
Frequently asked questions
Does HexClad contain PTFE?
HexClad states on its own website that its current TerraBond coating is PTFE-free. A class action alleged that cookware sold between February 2022 and March 2024 contained PTFE; HexClad denied the allegations and the matter was resolved by settlement without any admission of liability. For a pan bought new from a current listing, HexClad's published position is that it is PTFE-free.
Is HexClad PFAS-free?
HexClad describes TerraBond as "free from forever chemicals" on its website. As part of the settlement it agreed not to use "PFAS free" language on any product containing a PFAS-family chemical. We have not independently tested the coating.
Did HexClad lose the lawsuit?
No. The matter was resolved by settlement, with HexClad denying all allegations of wrongdoing. A settlement is not a court finding of liability. What the resolution did include was a change to advertising language going forward.
Can I still file a claim?
No. Per the official settlement notice, the claim deadline was 14 November 2025 and the final fairness hearing was held on 15 September 2025. Both have passed.
Is TerraBond safe?
HexClad describes TerraBond as a proprietary ceramic coating and states that it is PTFE-free and free from forever chemicals. The full formulation is not published, which is common across the cookware industry. If independent verification is what you want, an uncoated pan removes the question entirely, and the Tramontina above is the only pan in this guide whose listing states a third-party food-equipment certification.
Is HexClad worth the money?
If metal-utensil tolerance and dishwasher safety are what you need, it does something the alternatives do not. If you are buying it primarily on material grounds, the case is narrower: it is the most expensive pan in our comparison, and the two uncoated pans here both rate higher and state more about their materials on the listing itself.
Sources reviewed
- Official settlement notice for Cliburn et al. v. One Source to Market, LLC, hexcladsettlement.com (class definition, denial of liability, injunctive terms, deadlines)
- ClassAction.org reporting on the HexClad settlement (reported settlement amount, case number, challenged marketing phrases, agreed advertising restrictions)
- HexClad, "HexClad Science" product page (pan construction, TerraBond description, PTFE-free statement)
- HexClad 12-inch Hybrid Frying Pan and 4.5-quart Hybrid Deep Sauté retail listings, read August 2026 (coating description, warranty wording, materials, customer ratings)
- GreenPan, California AB1200 Disclosure page (Thermolon food-contact statement, substrate and handle chemical list, risk caveat)
- Made In Cookware, California Safer Food Packaging and Cookware Act (AB 1200) Disclosure page (per-category chemical disclosure)
- California Assembly Bill 1200, Safer Food Packaging and Cookware Act of 2021, and California Department of Toxic Substances Control cookware disclosure guidance
- Tramontina Signature Tri-Ply Clad and Made In Stainless Clad retail listings, read August 2026 (stated stainless grade, NSF certification, construction, ratings)
Freshness note: product formulations, retail listings, seller arrangements and published disclosures change over time. Every statement above was checked in August 2026 and attributed to its source. Before buying, re-run the thirty-second check and the AB 1200 search yourself — both take under a minute and both may return something different from what we found. If you believe anything here is inaccurate, write to [email protected] and we will review and correct it.
