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BLACKSTYLE Tips on Latex care and repair
Our short guide provides you with practical hints to make caring for your Blackstyle articles easier. Well cared-for latex clothing will give you years of use.
Dressing and Undressing Take care when dressing and undressing. Long fingernails, jewellery or other sharp objects can damage the latex.
Talcum powder or liquid dressing aids will make dressing easier, particularly with tight-fitting models.
Washing and Drying Latex, like other types of clothing, requires regular care, so make sure to wash your latex garments each time you have worn them. If necessary add a little soap or washing-up liquid and then rinse with warm water. Special care products such as Wash & Shine are ideal.
Hang washing up loosely to dry. Water marks on the outside of garments can be avoided by dabbing with a dry towel. If necessary turn the garment inside out several times. It is particularly important that zips be completely dry. Although their textile strips are completely sealed, dampness may penetrate between the teeth of the zip.
When completely dry, garments should be lightly powdered with talcum powder on the inside. Thin latex especially will tend to stick together after washing. A light latex polish is sufficient to care for the outside.
Shine For manufacturing reasons, new latex garments have a fine layer of talc on them. This can easily be removed by polishing. The most commonly used care products are latex polishes. These will give your garments a matt shine. We especially recommend they be applied before you store your latex clothing.
| Applying latex polish Spray a little polish on the latex with a pump spray bottle and distribute it with a soft sponge.
After a short drying period the garment will be ready.
For a more intense shine, silicon sprays are the most suitable. Be careful to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Using them in closed rooms can lead to danger of slipping, as the mist from the spray leaves a stubborn slippery film on smooth floors.
A good alternative is our polish Glossy Shine. It has a pump-spray bottle, so that the mist from the spray is reduced to a minimum.
Storage Store latex clothing in a dark, cool, dry place, preferably on a wide clotheshanger. Clamp hangers are also suitable, e.g. for masks.
Important Hints Latex reacts very sensitively to the prolonged effects of grease. Body oils, cremes and fat-based lubricating gels destroy latex. It loses its elasticity and, at worst, can even disintegrate. Use water-based lubricating gels only. Silicon oil is an oil with no fat content which you can safely use to polish your latex clothing.
Light colours such as white, yellow or transparent react sensitively to contact with copper or its alloys, such as brass. Keep belt buckles or jewellery made from these metals away from your latex clothing. The stains they cause cannot be removed!
Our short guide makes no claim to be comprehensive.
The hints we mention are only a few of many. Please write to us and report your experiences. We will be very pleased to expand our care guide.
Repairs We will repair every item that we have manufactured. Please note, that starting March 10.2006 we will not do repairs on items that we have not produced.
Over 95% of the items we had to repair, were items that we have not produced. We have made the experience, that a lot of products from other manufacturers are often of very poor quality. In many cases a repair does not make sense, because the repair would be more expensive than the purchase of a new product. And even, if we could repair the item: a good repair will not make a poor quality better. If the quality of an item is bad, complain to the shop were you have bought it. It is your right to get a replacement for faulty products!
Important! Please avoid any polish on items that shall be repaired. The rule for repairs is: washing, yes - polishing, no!
If you want to carry out small repairs yourself, you will find the necessary materials and hints in the repair guide below.
| Preparation The surfaces to be bonded must be clean and, most importantly, free of silicon or polish. These care products also act as separators and prevent adhesives from sticking.
| Adhesives and Materials For hints on how to work with individual products, please click on the product.
- Cleaner - Latex Adhesive - Rubber Solution
These and other materials can be ordered under the heading Latex Working . We provide offcuts free of charge. Please state the colours and thicknesses required.
Practical Tips
| Small Tear or Nick Clean the area to be repaired on the inside around the tear and fix the outside with adhesive tape. Make sure the edges of the tear fit exactly.
You can now repair the tear from the inside with a little thinner latex.
| Partly Detached Zip The textile supporting strip must be completely rubberised before being stuck in again. Saturate the zip’s textile strip with our latex adhesive. This must dry out completely. The rubberised surface can now be worked like latex and easily stuck back again.
| Changing a Complete Zip A zip which has become unusable can also be changed. Cut out the old zip keeping as close as possible to the edge of the latex. The bond between the latex and the textile cannot be dissolved. Rubberise the textile strip of the new zip with our latex adhesive and allow it to dry completely.
A zip prepared in this way can be bonded with any latex surface.
| Ripped Socks, Gloves and Condoms on Suits These can be replaced. Feel free to contact us if you have this type of problem, or we can also deliver any materials to you individually.
| Detached Poppers, Eyelets or Rivets All our models are reinforced with strong textile strips to permanently fix poppers and the like. Should a fastening or rivet still become detached, however, we will replace it with a minimum of delay. We will also send loose items such as rivets, eyelets, poppers or buckles as required.
| Disintegrating Latex The effects of grease cause a loss of elasticity and disintegration of the latex. Detailed hints can be found under latex care.
We will be happy to help with any other repair tips. Do also follow our hints on latex care and storage.
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