Latex Care Guide

Getting Started

For those of you new to buying and wearing latex/rubber clothing, below are a few pointers to help you care for your pieces.

When your garment arrives it will appear matte and have a talcy covering. This is to finish the garment, seal the glue, and is the best way to send out items as they will be folded in the post.

Shining Your Latex

You may choose to wear your latex/rubber like this — non-shiny — but if you want to shine it up as shown in our photos, you can use a silicone polish or spray. The silicone polish is easy to use and best applied with a lint-free cloth. It is easier to polish clothing flat as opposed to whilst worn.

Dressing

As you put your garment on for the first time, it will be lightly talced inside which will help you dress. You may wish to use more talc, or alternatively a latex-friendly dressing aid/lube will really help you slide into the garment — especially if it doesn't have a zip. A little applied to the skin and inside the garment will make all the difference.

Be careful when dressing with jewellery and long nails as the rubber can tear, so try not to dig fingers in.

Colour & Staining

Pale coloured latex can discolour, so avoid contact with make-up, fake tan, and jewellery. Prolonged contact with metal and a lubricant or polish will accelerate staining, so it's best to remove piercings completely when worn if possible. Staining from metal left on the skin can then be transferred to the garment, so it's best to wash the area of the body thoroughly before dressing if you have just removed metal accessories. (Black and other dark colours are not easily stained.)

Some garments have metal fastenings like zips and press studs. Black latex will not stain or discolour from these, but if your garment is coloured latex, keep metal components wrapped in tissue paper when not worn — especially after using polish.

We would suggest hanging coloured latex clothing separately in clear plastic garment bags, as colours can transfer onto each other when latex is polished.

Cleaning

To launder your latex, use a little gentle soap in lukewarm water. Gently agitate the garment so water circulates through it, and attempt to remove stains with your fingertips. Rinse in clean lukewarm water — you may wish to repeat this to ensure all soap is removed. Leave your garment to drip dry in the shower or over a bath until completely dry inside and out. You can then talc the inside and polish the outside to keep the rubber moisturised.

Important: Latex should never be washed in a washing machine or dried in a tumble dryer — it will be damaged immediately and beyond repair.

Storage

Latex will melt in heat and can discolour in sunlight, so avoid storing or drying near a radiator or window — a wardrobe is perfect. Hang as flatly as possible to avoid creasing. Most creases will be pressed out by the body when worn, but in flared areas of a garment, creasing is best avoided during storage as these may not drop out as easily.

Kept like this, your latex clothing will be durable and ready to wear again and again.