LATEX, THE WHITE GOLD

Latex, the white gold

 

Latex — often dubbed the ‘white gold’ of the Amazon through the extractivist gaze of the Western world — plays a vital role in the region’s environmental, cultural, and economic fabric. During the Rubber Boom (late 19th to early 20th centuries), British industrial interests, alongside other colonial powers, fuelled a violent extractivist economy that exploited both the forest and its peoples. This period brought immense wealth to Europe while devastating Indigenous communities and ecosystems in the Amazon.

 

Harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis tree, native to the rainforest, latex was originally extracted through ancestral techniques that do not harm the tree — a sustainable practice that long predates colonial exploitation.

Today, designers, scientists and artisans are reclaiming latex as a regenerative material. By combining indigenous wisdom and innovation, Amazonian latex is being used in fashion and design to reshape narratives rooted in the forest, and those who protect it.