Latex: It's not a stretch to say it shaped our world

[Quartz Obsession] Latex November 20, 2017 A spring in our step --------------------------------------------------------------- When you think of latex, you probably think about pleasure (the condom celebrates its 100th birthday soon), pain (medical gloves are even older), or both (latex was a fetishwear wardrobe staple long before it made the Kendall and Kylie Jenner collection). But latex is also a seamless and often invisible part of our humdrum modern-day lives—at least if you [wear shoes]( [chew gum]( [sleep on a pillow]( or use the [internet](. As former Goodyear president [Paul Litchfield]( once put it: “Think of our industrial structure as a living thing, the skeleton of which is composed of metal and cement, the arterial system of which carries a life stream of oil, and the flexing muscles and sinews of which are of rubber.” We’re here to give the material its due. Sing it loud, sing it proud, latex makes the world go ‘round. million-dollar question What Is latex, anyway? --------------------------------------------------------------- Technically speaking, it’s a milky fluid that leaks from some plants when they’re cut—this includes rubber trees, which is what most people are thinking of when they talk about latex, and what we’re mostly talking about here. But the category is much wider than that. Opium is technically a latex, as is chicle, the main ingredient in chewing gum. One important point: Latex is different than tree sap; scientists think its primary function is fending off hungry insects. Quotable “To put it bluntly, rubber is power and sex.” —[Candace Bushnell]( By the Digits [26.9 million tonnes:]( Annual rubber produced worldwide [37%:]( Global rubber supply used by China, the world’s largest consumer [75%:]( Proportion of rubber supply that is used for vehicle tires [38.2 billion:]( Projected annual sales of latex condoms by 2019 [500,000 hectares:]( Amount of land burned and clear-cut in Southeast Asia to make room for rubber plantations [136.5 tons:]( Water consumed annually by a single hectare of a rubber plantation [134 billion:]( Rubber gloves produced in Malaysia in 2016 [£833 ($1092):]( Cost of a latex Cheongsam dress by designer Atsuko Kudo Timeline The absolute latex in fashion --------------------------------------------------------------- [1615:]( The Franciscan friar and historian Juan de Torquemada observes that the natives of what is now Mexico used sap to make waterproof capes and boots. 1736: Frenchmen Charles de La Condamine and Francois Fresneau discover similar uses in Ecuador and send back a sample, which de La Condamine names “latex” after the Latin word for liquid. [1755:]( The King of Portugal sends his boots to Lisbon to be waterproofed. [1823:]( Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh patents a method for creating waterproof fabric by bonding two layers of cloth with a layer of liquid rubber. His namesake raincoat is [still produced by the Mackintosh company](. [A member of staff poses for a photograph with a raincoat at the new Mackintosh store in Mayfair London January 19, 2011.Traditional all-weather raincoats, designed for the working masses almost 200 years ago, joined the ranks of upmarket London fashion on Wednesday, when Mackintosh opened its first standalone store. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor](Reuters/Luke MacGregor) [1920s:]( The Mackintosh Society, an early fetish group, is founded; the fetish magazine London Life describes “the thrill of maccing.” [1957:]( British engineer John Sutcliffe starts the company AtomAge, to produce leather, vinyl, and latex motorcycle wear for women. His promotional magazine of the same name, which begins publication in 1972, becomes a cutting-edge fetish publication. [atomagemagazine] [1971:]( Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren open a boutique called SEX at 430 Kings Road in London. Lined with pink rubber walls to simulate a womb, it brings fetish fashion to the mainstream and gives rise to Sex Pistols. [Late 1980s:]( Jean Paul Gaultier catches the eye of the fashion world with his [fetish-inspired designs]( notably when he creates the costumes for Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour. [Jean-Paul_Gaultier_expo_bustier] [2009:]( Lady Gaga greets Queen Elizabeth in a red latex gown designed by [Atsuko Kudo](. [2016:]( Beyoncé wears a skintight Kudo dress to the Met Gala. [Singer-Songwriter Beyonce Knowles arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala (Met Gala) to celebrate the opening of ] [2017:]( The second iteration of Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s fashion line includes a latex dress, bra, and corset dress. Person of interest The king of condoms --------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysian businessman Goh Miah Kiat runs Karex, [the world’s largest condom maker](. His great-grandfather, a Chinese immigrant, started a store on a rubber plantation, which his son expanded into a successful rubber factory. Wiped out in a global crash in the 1980s, they regrouped to make condoms—a booming business in the wake of the HIV epidemic. “Obviously, I was the cool boy [in school] … my friends all wanted to know about condoms,” [he told Forbes](. Brief history The ugly history of rubber --------------------------------------------------------------- The history of latex is tightly wrapped up with colonialism: Western powers have done horrible, inhumane things to obtain rubber supplies. “You say you want an industrial revolution? If so, you need three raw materials: iron, to make steel for machinery; fossil fuels, to power that machinery; and rubber, to connect and protect all the moving parts,” Charles C. Mann, author of the acclaimed books 1491 and 1492, [wrote for National Geographic](. Brazil initially had a monopoly on rubber production, until England enlisted an explorer named [Henry Wickham]( to steal rubber seeds from the Amazon and bring them to Kew Gardens in London. Soon they were transported to European colonies in Asia and Africa, where colonialists produced vast amounts of rubber—often using forced labor and enforcing brutal quotas on unwilling populations. A notorious example of this is the rule of [Belgium’s King Leopold in the Congo](. Pop quiz Which celebrity has designer Atsuko Kudo not outfitted? Eva Mendes Kate MossKate MiddletonBella Hadid Correct. But Kudo says she wants to. Incorrect. Kudo credits burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese with first bringing her look to the red carpet. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. watch this! Here's how rubber gloves are made --------------------------------------------------------------- Warning: You’ll never look at disembodied hands the same way. Take me down this 🐰 hole Our rubbery internet --------------------------------------------------------------- There’s another kind of latex that built empires and fortunes during the colonial era: Gutta percha, which flows from the palaquium gutta tree. When harvested, it can be molded into any shape and is largely impervious to water—and it’s an excellent electrical insulator. That made gutta percha a highly sought-after commodity as the first submarine telegraph cables were laid. Eventually, millions of trees were felled as the global cable network was laid. Those same routes, carrying fiber optic cables sheathed in more modern materials, are now the [backbone of the internet](. Poll Would you wear latex? [Click here to vote]( YOLOHeck noDoes it have pockets? The Fine Print In Friday’s poll about [pocket calculators,]( we asked what you used your TI for and 60% of you said “only trigonometry, of course!” 🤓 Today’s email was written by [Whet Moser.]( Images: Flickr/Helene Samson (corset), Reuters/Lucas Jackson (Beyoncé), Reuters/Luke MacGregor (Mackintosh), Reuters/Surapan Boonthanom (rubber tree) The correct answer to the quiz is Kate Middleton. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States Share this email