Coir Welcome Mats

There is quite a nice selection of funny doormats to be found in your local store, and probably a an even wider variety available on line.  Somewhere, there is one that will make just about anyone chuckle. I've found some with humor that  is relatively benign, but even those with a jaded sense of humor may even get a chuckle out of one of them.

One of my favorite ones just happens to say "Hi, I'm Mat."  I really did laugh out loud when I first saw it. That's my kind of humor.  Yeah, I know simple.  But I love puns.  Perhaps many of those arriving at your door will, too.  You never know.

Doormats are made from various materials.  Some of the most popular include rubber, nylon, indoor / outdoor carpeting,  aluminum, and coir.  

Are you familiar with Coir?

Coir is actually coconut fiber.  When you remove the outer covering of a coconut, you find a hard shell that is partially covered by stringy stuff.  That stringy stuff is coconut fibers, or coir.

If the coconut is ripe, the coir is a brownish color, and it's used for things like mats and padding for upholstery. 

 If the coconut is not ripe, the coir is white. White coir is used in making rope and fishing nets, among other things.

The world's leading producers and exporters of coir are India and Sri Lanka.

As a raw material, it's also quite green. Green as in environmentally friendly, that is.  Since it's made from the fruit of the coconut palm, it's a totally renewable resource, using a 'non edible' portion of a regular food crop.

Coconuts in a market in Thailand, with fibers still attached

The next time you wipe your feet on a natural coir doormat, think about what it took to harvest the coconut that produced those fibers.

As you found earlier, coir is the stringy stuff that grows between the outer shell and the inner shell of the fruit of the coconut palm.  

The problem is that those trees grow up to 90 or more feet tall.  And guess where the fruit is?  Yep - It's right near the top, just under the fronds.

Someone has to climb way up there and get those coconuts for you!  Most hack them off with a machete. All you had to do was stand on the mat and scruff  your feet around a little.  

No wonder we can afford to be humorous about our doormats ... we're not the ones making that long climb on tree after tree.  Our part is easy

If you vallue your privacy, or just don't cotton to unannounced visits from just any old body, then maybe what you need is an UNwelcome mat.  The sentiments on them seem to me to be meant jokingly, but perhaps some folks would mean them for real.