bYo - the development of a yoga mat - Part 2

In Part 1, we explained why we think it's time for a new yoga mat. Today you can find out why we are not (yet) really convinced by natural rubber as a material.
 
 
Our new bYo yoga mat has already gone through several previous versions that were not ready for the market. We have tested various materials, including several versions with natural rubber. Wait, natural rubber (rubber elasticum), that sounds good, doesn't it? After all, it is a natural material that is extracted from the rubber tree. It is also elastic, hard-wearing and, depending on its thickness, provides good cushioning on a yoga mat. So, all good, you would think. And so we have also developed some mats made entirely or partly from natural rubber.
 
 Some of our beta versions
 

The first problems we recognized were already in the material. It was sometimes very difficult to obtain verifiable certificates stating that it really is 100% natural rubber. For example, admixtures are allowed, but this is often not recognizable. Other producers then call it natural latex, for example, but it actually only contains around 10-30% natural rubber. So the task here would be to obtain the material from a certified company. Simply offering another product on the diverse market was out of the question for us.

In addition, natural rubber products often develop a strong rubber odor during the first few weeks. Even if this is not harmful to health, it is very important, especially with a yoga mat, that there are no irritating factors during training.

Unfortunately, abrasion was also an issue with one mat. For example, we developed a beta version where the surface was made of cork and the rest of the mat was made of natural rubber. Abrasion occurred when the mat was subjected to heavy loads. It's important to know that it's not just plastic, but also microparticles that pollute our environment and oceans. Therefore, further development of this version was out of the question for us.

Nevertheless, we believe that the problems we see here can be solved, precisely because, as mentioned at the beginning, there are also very positive aspects. The prerequisites for this are the following factors:

- Production of natural rubber with certificate
- no perceptible odor
- highly resilient without abrasion

We felt that these points had not yet been met, at least at the time. For these reasons, our project stalled for a while and we were looking for a solution that met our expectations. Other interesting materials were and still are on our list to develop a sustainable solution for a yoga mat that also meets our criteria. In terms of design, we had not yet reached the ideal solution either. You can find out how we took a decisive step in the next part. See you then!
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