the Latvian SSR but also the Republics of the whole Soviet Union. Rubber and industrial rubber articles were produced by three main rubber plants. Rubber plants “Sarkanais Kvadrāts” and “Meteors” specialised in the production of rubber footwear, but “Varonis” – in various industrial rubber articles. In the branch of leather production, a leather factory – production union “Kosmoss” – became the leading enterprise. Factories “Pirmais Maijs”, “Blāzma”, “Rekords”, “Liepājas apavi” produced leather footwear; the combined enterprise “Somdaris” made fashionable leather consumer goods and the fur processing factory “Electra” – furs and furriery goods. In the paint industry, there was an ever growing use of synthetic resins. This branch of industry was concentrated in two enterprises – Riga Varnish and Paints Factory, which produced about 80% of varnishes and paints made in Latvia, and Riga Integrated Chemical Plant, which produced components for perfumery, food and pharmaceutical industry, for example, menthol. In many branches of industry and everyday life, plastics became a popular material. For the first time, polyethylene processing started at Riga Polyethylene Factory in 1959. For the processing of plastics, Olaine Plastics Processing Plant became a leading enterprise, which supplied with plastic products machine-building, instrument-making, chemical and food industry enterprises, as well as agriculture. The plastics processing and rubber article production union “Ausma” specialized in the production of toys and different household goods. Production of synthetic fibres was started at Daugavpils Chemical Fibre Factory in 1964, where capron (polycaprolactam or nylon-6) was produced from caprolactam by polymerization. The threads of technical capron were used to produce textiles for car tire cords and fishing nets, but capron silk threads were used for the production of women’s stockings and men’s socks. There were produced about 13 million pairs of rubber footwear, 59 thousand tons of varnishes and paints and 38.4 thousand tons of synthetic fibres; for different purposes 31.7 thousand tons of synthetic resins and plastics were used in Latvia in 1980.