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Famous German label announces it will close by end of 2025
FAMOUS GERMAN LABEL ANNOUNCES IT WILL CLOSE BY END OF 2025
Only months after celebrating its 20th anniversary, famous German label Fantastic Rubber has announced that it is to close its business by the end of 2025. In a statement released on Wednesday July 2 on Facebook and elsewhere, label owner Peter Pick explains that he is “now at an age where my strength is waning and economic developments are making it increasingly difficult to cover costs in Germany”.
“Production will continue for as long as possible,” the statement continues, “and we will also accept orders that we can certainly still complete. This will mainly affect the standard catsuits; we will only offer designs if a pattern is available.”
Latex catsuits are, of course, what Fantastic Rubber — based in Panketal, 15km north-east of Berlin — is best known for. And not just any sort of catsuit. Pick’s engineering background enabled him to develop and perfect neck-entry suits using the thinnest, stretchiest latex (much of it supplied by Libidex’s sister company Radical Rubber) with virtually invisible seams, for the closest appearance to that of an actual second skin that’s possible using glued sheet latex.
Top image – Model: Robin Lattrich; Photo: Frédéric Fevrier. All images in this article are publicity shots from Fantastic Rubber’s social media pages
Pick’s engineer’s understanding of stress points in materials also led to careful attention in the suits’ construction to traditionally weak areas such as armpits and groin, where the fabric of a close-fit garment will be subject to the highest physical stresses.
Pick’s announcement also says that this famous German label will be offering customers the opportunity to buy their patterns, either to make garments themselves or as a template for other manufacturers. The pattern prices will be published on the FR website in due course.
In addition, the label will be disposing of all stocks of materials not required for remaining production work. “This will apply not only to latex,” says Peter, “but also to zippers, corset accessories and the shoes that we have made into latex boots.
“We would like to thank all the customers who have been loyal to us for over 20 years, the many suppliers who have always supplied us reliably and all the other manufacturers with whom we have worked well.
“I hope you have fond memories of Fantastic Rubber,” the statement concludes. And surely many latex enthusiasts will have such memories, especially if they have ever owned one of the label’s neck entry catsuits (which are only made to measure).
The practice and care needed to insert your entire body through the neck hole — and the even greater care needed to get back out of it later without damaging the garment — has probably constituted a fetish in its own right for more than a few folk!
Of course, while this famous German label’s website displays more than 40 latex catsuit designs, making them the biggest single category in its range, the brand still offers a selection of other latex garments too. There are corsets, gloves, slippers, masks, leggings, panties, stockings and tights.
The Fantastic Rubber website still offers its unique “Premium” discount system to customers making a new purchase who have bought something worth €400 or more in the previous 24 months.
The company has also operated a system with custom designs whereby the price to the customer of making their design is substantially reduced if the customer then freely assigns the design for the label’s use. This is just speculation, but might this explain why some of the designs on offer from Fantastic Rubber have unusually shaped and/or positioned panels that your typical latex fashion designer would not necessarily come up with?
For some fans of the label, this tendency to quirkiness is clearly a significant part of the attraction. But whether it might also have been a limiting factor in the brand’s overall appeal is something we’ll probably never know now. And despite considerable discussion about affordability on the Fantastic Rubber website, “affordable” is not necessarily the first epithet that comes to mind when browsing its prices.
So perhaps Peter Pick’s observation that “economic developments are making it increasingly difficult to cover costs in Germany” might just be his way of saying that in the current financial climate, there just aren’t enough people still willing to pay the prices this famous German label needs to charge to keep the business viable.
It’s quite possible, after all, that the business has felt some effect from other latex clothing brands introducing lower-priced alternatives to the neck entry catsuits that were once Fantastic Rubber’s USP. Libidex itself, for example, currently has both female and male Pull On (neck entry) catsuits at around half and a third, respectively, of the German label’s base prices for such items. For cost-conscious shoppers, this can make it feel more difficult to justify splashing out on the more expensive options.
It’s still possible, of course, that Peter Pick will find a buyer willing to take Fantastic Rubber on and perhaps restructure it to cater more effectively for current market conditions. But it does look like he’s now resigned to the fact that, buyer or no, it’s not going to be him running the show for much longer.