D´Arvore - meaning "from the tree" is the name given to a new initiative aimed at improving the lives of people living in the Amazon rain forest through the manufacture of environmentally-sustainable products.

Promoted by Ecoamazon (The Institute for Eco-business of Amazonia) and Capeb (The Centre for the Associations of Small-scale Rural Producers and Extractivists of Epitaciolancia and Brasileia) the project has seen the development of an eight-strong range of ladies and gents sandals. All are produced from vegetable leather and light-coloured Brazilian crepe - both derivates of natural rubber.  

Joao Tezza, project coordinator, reports that various materials were tested.  In the event, vegetable leather was found to be best suited for the straps and crepe for the soles.  The straps are reinforced with canvas or animal leather as necessary while a cork filling (another rubber derivative) is used in the insole to reduce weight.

The project is notable for its social inclusivity, bringing together not just the 28 different extractor groups that belong to Capeb, but also the West Kaxinawá Indians who process the crepe for the soling and the vegetable leather. An organisation in the state of Rio Grande do Sul meanwhile has been contracted to design and manufacture the sandals.

Tezza thinks the sandals will have strong appeal with the consumer, becoming an outward expression of their concern for the environment.   Treetap, the company that owns the vegetable leather technology took part in the project by transferring its technical knowledge to Capeb.

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