Back in February 2023, Rebecca Allsop, owner of Yummy Gummy Latex announced the closure of the iconic latex fashion and sheeting brand, with an emotional farewell message that sent shockwaves through the latex clothing community. It was always Rebecca’s hope to find a new owner for the Yummy Gummy brand and, in August 2024, it was announced that the torch would pass to Yuki and Ruka of German based, Se’tyo.
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Much has changed since Allsop hung up the reins at Yummy Gummy; the re-location of the brand to Leipzig, new designs processes and techniques and the first new Yummy Gummy sheeting rolling off the ‘production line’ in almost two years but, with assistance and guidance from Rebecca, both Yuki and Ruka have embraced the challenge wholeheartedly.
Speaking exclusively to Latex24/7 recently, the new owners talked to us about the early beginnings of this journey, and to give us an unprecedented and honest view ‘behind the scenes’, with challenges and surprises, some ups and down, and to tell their story behind Se’tyo and what it’s taken so far to create their first new sheets of Yummy Gummy Latex.
A New Beginning
“The first few months have not been without their issues”, Yuki and Ruka commented, “The first step – like everything – has two sides. The challenging, stressful and sometimes even hard side, but also the side of new chances and reward. Basically, that summarizes our last few months and the process of founding and evolving our startup Se’tyo”. With such a determination to succeed, both Ruka and Yuki had a strong focus and expectations as the pair confirmed to us. “It might be a clear thing that you invest a lot of energy in creating something new, so the long weeks didn’t come unexpected.”
“Thinking back to the creation of the idea, it feels like years must have passed. Actually, that is true and not true at the same time.”, Ruka and Yuki commented. It was always the plan to form their own design label – Ruka studied a Masters Degree in Hamburg for this exact reason, and the original concept was to focus on individualised clothing only. This, however, led the team to experience one crucial issue. “When we were ready to start in late 2023, we discovered a major issue of getting material and fabric as well as customised and eye-catching latex. We haven’t been satisfied with what we could get, finding an alternative to what Yummy Gummy was, was impossible”, but this didn’t deter the Se’tyo owners from wanting to achieve their goal.
“As we already had some experience doing latex sheets, we therefore planned a little production for our own use.”, clearly a method to overcome their recent issue. “The concept was nearly finished when the idea came up, to also provide other designers with access to our sheet creations. Yummy Gummy was still for sale at that point and well, you can imagine the rest of the story.”
A Truck Full of Stuff and Nowhere For It To Go
With a new plan formulating in their minds, Se’tyo set about putting this into action. Conversations with Rebecca began and a deal was agreed for Ruka and Yuki to purchase the Yummy Gummy business. “Buying Yummy Gummy meant some major changes to the concept.”, a challenge which the pair met with open arms. First on the list, a lot of additional space was required and the search began. “After two months of searching, we found the ideal location and have now moved in.”, Yuki told us. In a strange twist of fate, their new location is a space within the head office of a former clothing-yarn factory, in their hometown of Leipzig. How perfect for a clothing brand!
There was plenty of renovation required, as Ruka explained to us. “The rooms hadn’t been used for some years, which meant that we had to renovate the whole thing, including electrics and light. It took us three months of work to prepare the rooms, and still not everything is finished yet”. Despite the immense workload required, the pair worked tirelessly to achieve their dream.
Reflecting on the work and changes, it’s clear that it was all a rewarding experience. “It was worth it – the place is exactly what we need. We have a lot of windows to the north, so no sun but we have the possibility to let the air circulate – one of the most important things. Those of you who have opened a bottle of liquid latex probably knows, what we mean 😆”
These first steps were just the beginning of their journey. With a new home found to allow their creativity to flourish, the new Yummy Gummy owners set about filling the new space. ”Naturally, having space is not the only thing we needed. We did buy all the items and tools, that were used for the Yummy Gummy sheets before, as well as some consultancy from Rebecca.”, they discussed. “We got a truck full of stuff and luckily most of it arrived fine in Germany. Two years of the equipment being in storage left marks and so we had to clean everything before we could start. There wasn’t much material left, as frost and long storage had caused a lot of damage.”
Production Begins!
With the creative space, and equipment, all setup and ready to go, Se’tyo could then began the process of producing their first batches of latex sheeting. “Despite a notable price jump, we found good quality material within some weeks, at least for the most stuff we need. A special issue was finding a proper liquid latex, which creates smooth sheets but also behaves well during pouring and aftercare.” Unfortunately, initial tests did not go according to plan. “The first batch did set us back a lot as it didn’t fit our vulcanization process resulting in deforming and tons of bubbles and holes in the sheets. We then sent out bids among the whole Europe, to find what we need.”, drawing on the experience and availability across the continent. “The results after setting up everything behaved well, but still we weren’t satisfied with the outcome. We got many messages regarding quality issues of old sheets created by the former Yummy Gummy, especially holes and bubbles. We know, everything is handmade, and that also we make everything with our hands, so there is never a 100% perfect result possible for the sheets. But with Yuki being an engineer and both of us being perfectionists, that answer was not sufficient, so we started to experiment. We ask a friend, who happens to be a chemist, support us which resulted in major changes of setup, tools and processes. We also invested a lot into pre- and aftercare, especially the vulcanization process. The curing procedure is now partly similar to the production of medical latex products, to ensure best possible properties of the sheets we produce. Sure, it is still not a 100% perfect process as we are not machines or run a laboratory, but we could improve the overall quality and reliability of the sheets a lot and we are still working on further improvements. We still recommend to check the sheets before cutting your patterns, but be sure we do all we can to create the best products possible for you.”
“Besides all of the trials and tribulations so far, we did also play with the patterns and techniques within the last two months.”, the pair clearly eager to craft, “Certainly, other designers will bring other ideas and goals. This is why we won’t only copy the techniques Rebecca used, but also invent a lot of new techniques, adding and also partly replacing products. Before her Masters Degree study, Ruka visited an art school, and so she has training in colour techniques. And Yuki is just like a cat, with different ideas each day and not caring if things are possible or not – experimentation is often the best approach. You can expect a number of new sheets soon. We are especially happy with the results of our new realistic marble and space galaxy patterns.”
Future Plans
With production now well under way Ruka and Yuki know they need to turn their attention to getting their products into the hands of consumers and latex clothing designers across the globe.
“All this is not the end of course. There are many things which we are planning for the coming weeks and months as well.”, the new owners of Yummy Gummy Latex tell us. “Still not all our tools are ready to use, and there are other challenges ahead. One of the main issues will be the launch of our website. The original plan was to set up the former website of Yummy Gummy, but sadly we found out that development wasn’t finished and we would need to invest a lot to get that running. We are currently in the process of sourcing a new web designer and this will mean that the launch will be further delayed, as we expect up to 4 months of development time for a web designer. Until then, we still have social media and our basic website, but this can’t replace a proper web shop. When ready, we will of course announce the launch of our web shop, as soon as it will be ready to go live.”
An online presence is not the only way in which Ruka and Yuki plan on selling their latex products. “Also, we are preparing some fairs this year.”, they tell us, “We are happy to announce that we will be at the German Fetish Fair in Berlin with a stand this May. We will have a bunch of clothing, which we start to produce in the coming weeks. We did improve many of the old patterns and we will also have some new stuff there. We are looking forward to meeting you there :-)”
For further information about Se’tyo and their Yummy Gummy latex sheeting collection, be sure to check out the brands website and follow them on Instagram.
This may be the first chapter in the return of Yummy Gummy Latex but it’s clear that the Se’tyo owners have a firm passion and excitement for their new venture. Here at Latex24/7 we wish them the best of luck, and we will continue to follow and update you all on the project over the coming months.
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