Latex Catfish are a Chinese maker of latex gear and have been around for a couple of years. Their major selling point is the relative cheapness of their wares and that they have some fairly unusual designs like rubber Dianese motorcycle suits and cosplay gear.
I’ve always been loyal to my tried and tested rubber-makers like STR and Regulation* but thought I’d do a test purchase from Latex Catfish and compare them to the traditional players. I chose a fairly standard pattern but in unusual colours for fun and plumped for a long catsuit, without sleeves, and a codpiece.
Ordering was pretty straightforward, payment via Paypal upfront. Latex Catfish have such a huge number of designs it can be quite difficult to find what you want, but I guess that’s a good thing!
Delivery took just over 6 weeks – the majority of this was in production time, actual shipping from Hong Kong was pretty swift. I’d ordered around Chinese New Year which meant things took a little longer, although in practice I’ve waited a similar amount of time from STR before now as well (Regulation tend to supply items very quickly in standard sizes).
So onto the fit: this was an off-the-peg XS in 0.4mm latex which should give a fairly stretchy and tactile feeling. The shape isn’t at all bad – the only location that doesn’t fit so great is across the shoulders, but I often struggle with standard patterns in this area so it’s not unsurprising.
The seams aren’t too bad, although there’s a lot of glue left on the inside surfaces:
Compare the seam quality to one of my STR suits and it’s clear STR are considerably better:
Part of my thinking about buying a codpiece option was that it would demonstrate another part of the latex maker’s art and would probably be the place to show up any weaknesses if there are any. The actual popper hardware seems reasonably OK (and the zip is YKK branded) but I’d have like to have seen more reinforcement on the inside like STR use:
The colour itself is not quite as vibrant out of the box as I’d hope it would be from the pictures but I think this is partly down to it being talced and not shined (you can choose from pre-polished and chlorination options too).
The major selling point is of course down to price and whilst I’d argue the build quality is not directly comparable, I specced-up a similarly patterned suit and options from STR. Latex Catfish comes in at £70 (excluding shipping which adds roughly another £20) whereas STR is £220.
In conclusion then, whilst STR have the edge in build quality and fit, Latex Catfish can deliver something appropriate to the price. It does mean that you can chose something more adventurous or wear something out to play without constantly worrying about damage.
For a great basic suit I’d still go to STR, but will I be buying from Latex Catfish again? Yep.
