Amazonas rubber tappers and Parisian women carrying bags made from the same material? Correct. After seeing rubber tappers carrying their tools in latex bags, Brazilian businessman (and former politician) Joao Augusto Fortes helped create a "vegetable leather" Replica Chanel Handbags by spreading natural latex over cotton/linen canvas and smoking it until it turned dark brown.

France-based Hermes uses the material in its Amazonia line, which includes handbags, travel bags and gardening aprons for up to US$1,000 each. The fabric sells for as much as ten times the price of raw latex, and has turned an often-unprofitable but traditional way T5 LED Tube T5 of life into a profitable one. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz automobiles are sporting headrests and seatbacks made from coconut husks that Brazilian farmers formerly discarded. The fiber was used in car interiors in the 1970s, but was replaced by cheaper polyurethane. New technology now makes the fiber cheaper to produce. Plus, coconut fiber is tough, durable, elastic and contains a natural antibacterial agent. This spring, a US$3.7 million factory,
embroidered patches POEMAtec Fibras Naturais de Amazonia (in Belem), began mass production of coconut-fiber components. The plant will also soon begin using locally-extracted latex, giving the rubber tappers another profitable customer.