Lululemon designed his new rug for two years. It is working with the Canadian Sports Institute in Calgary, Alberta, to study how people use their yoga mats. The team developed a kind of ‘heat map’ of usage zones by monitoring which places affect people most during their exercise. These data, together with the analysis of the worn areas on used yoga mats, gave the design team a clear picture of where the wrinkles should be placed and where the filling should be prioritized.
Most of Lululemon’s previous yoga mats are made with a base layer of rubber covered with a surface layer of polyurethane grip. According to Morris, the usual method is to create a three-dimensional surface like the wrinkles in the Take Form mat, by being embossed – to push a heated die into the surface to allow the material to take shape. The problem is that Lululemon cannot apply the process to his yoga mats, given its construction. The rubber base does not retain the memory of the mold, and the surface layer uses a kind of porous polyurethane that melts through the heat.
The solution was to develop a foam concoction that would harden and hold the mold. That strip of foam is then inserted between the rubber runner and the polyurethane surface. Lululemon will not describe exactly how this foaming process works, referring to its own nature, but Morris compares it to baking a cake.
“Foam starts as a liquid, and as the cure foams it,” he says.
The Take Form mat costs between $ 118 and $ 128, depending on the version, and will be available worldwide on March 23.
Sanchia Legister demonstrates the right technique. Note the placement of her hands and feet. Perfect!
Photo: LululemonThe market for new yoga mats – whether they are decorated with 3D wrinkles or not – is now very different from the time when Lululemon started developing the Take Form. Attacked by the isolation of the pandemic, the demand for exercise equipment at home exploded in 2020. But even as vaccines become more available and the world shines with a degree of normality, there is a tendency for people to prefer to sweat in their homes instead of in gyms. and yoga studios may not disappear.
Rig mats can be especially handy if you do not have a yoga instructor over you and are actively monitoring your shape.
Devices that provide such self-guidance are in line with Lululemon’s strategy to fully embrace the home exercise trend. While the company lost its sales early in the pandemic, its online sales rose. In June last year, Lululemon also acquired home fitness firm Mirror for $ 500 million. Coupling an alignment support mat with personal lessons radiated directly by Mirror into your home comes pretty close to the experience of personal yoga instruction. If the company now wants to continue with the next obvious yoga trend, it should just sell goats.
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