Who are we?
Metta Mats is the embodiment of the Art of Work. This isn't just a lofty marketing slogan; it's a statement of what has gone into every mat we make. We started development of this product back in 2015 and released our first mats to the public in 2016. Since then, every single Metta Mat shipped around the world has started as raw materials crafted by our own hands. Metta Mats is one of the only yoga mat brands that actually makes the products we sell instead of having them produced by overseas manufacturers.
Our mats primarily feature the artwork of independent artists who have spent many years, sometimes decades, honing their craft. Our unique mat surface is the result of thousands of hours of testing, researching, and gathering feedback from yogis around the globe. This means every mat we make carries with it decades of practice, experimentation, refining, and many long hours in the studio and on the shop floor. Our artisanship and our artists' work reflect our life's stories; from the experiences that inspired our artists' brushstrokes to the many years of hard work and self-improvement we have embraced throughout the many challenges that a small business faces.
The mats we make today are unlike any other in the world. They feature the most vibrant reproduction of art available on a yoga mat. The art is protected by a surface layer of grippy, durable, and translucent rubber material that we have perfected over nearly a decade. This surface layer has a supple and secure feeling that provides confident grip for even the most advanced yogi and will last for many years. We are so confident in our mats that we sell them with a 30 day love-it-or-money-back guarantee. If for any reason you don’t love it, we’ll take it back and even cover return shipping on domestic orders.
Why We Do What We Do.
We believe in the power of art, artisanship, and connection. We support the artists that we collaborate with - 20% of every mat sold goes directly to that artist. We believe in our craft, we don't sell imported products and market them with green washing - we make everything and we’re constantly working to hone our craft. And we believe in community - we don't funnel your money into endless ads that tech monopolies use for lobbying. We rely on the grapevine of networking within our community to spread the word about us - and pay you in credit what would otherwise be paid to tech monopolies for ads.
The unfortunate truth is that almost every yoga mat sold is simply an inexpensive commodity from overseas. Premium “ environmentally-friendly polyurethane leather” mats that sell for over $100 from top brands can be purchased overseas for less than $10. These brands often call their product super eco-friendly, but they don't boast about where their mats are made because they don't make their own mats and they cannot make any promises about how environmentally friendly the factories actually are. Often these brands have never set foot in the factories that make their mats or met the people whose hands handle all of the chemicals required to make them. So they use buzzwords and outrageous profits to fund endless ads - ads that just make tech monopolies even more powerful. We believe the yoga community deserves better.
We make all of our own mats, with our hands, in a factory in Philadelphia that runs on renewable energy, we use no harmful chemicals or ozone depleting processes, and we recycle and upcycle all of the waste materials we possibly can. We can stand behind these statements, because we handle every step of production all the way up to shipping it out the door to you.
This is why our logo is the leaf of our favorite plant - the monstera deliciosa aka Swiss Cheese Plant. This wonderful plant is hardy and able to put down roots anywhere, surviving in soil or just in water. The splits in the leaf allow wind to pass through the leaf without ripping it. These leaves bend instead of breaking, just as our business has over the long journey that has brought us here. A small piece of any Swiss Cheese plant can be taken and given to a friend where it can easily grow into a full-size plant in a new home - just as our mats grow to be a part of the home you find in your practice.. We're confident you'll share it with your friends too, because they will certainly ask about your new Metta Mat when they see it.