Could mermaids feasibly make clothing out of natural rubber?

In a world I'm currently developing, I'm working on a merpeople equivalent (more or less physically identical to your bogstandard mermaids, for the purposes of this question), and I want them to wear clothing. I know there are plenty of arguments against the practicality of this, but regardless, it's an element I'd like to have.

For context: these particular merfolk breathe air, and can stay out of water for significant periods of time. They live in rivers, lakes, and oceanic bays alongside a ground-based civilization, and so there's some communal culture going on (or at least communal standards of fashion). They're a part of the economy and society of said civilization, which is at least at a technological level complex enough to manufacture dentures (I know that's oddly specific, but I think it sets the tone). In other words, the have access to a lot of materials and production they otherwise wouldn't.

I've thought about the issue a bit, exploring various options (they say seaweed lasts for ages without deteriorating, if you don't cut it, etc.), and I hit upon the idea of them using natural rubber (latex I think is the word?) for their most basic and functional garments. They say the Myans would dip their feet in it to make shoes, and I wondered what the practicality would be of a mermaid bathing in latex up to the neck, letting it dry, and then cutting / peeling it off and devising some means of fastening it. Would this be a good way to make a waterproof suit? Even just an undergarment or something along those lines?

Thoughts?

posted over 6 years ago

Enthusiastic Leviathan‭

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