What Makes Love My Mat a Sustainable Yoga Prop Company

I started Love My Mat with a vision to create an all-natural yoga mat cleaner that smells good, works well and cleans more than just yoga mats. It took me a couple years, but I did it. And we now have one of the best, all-natural yoga mat and accessory cleaners available anywhere.

Soon after my Mom and I decided to start making Yoga Mat Bags from textile items we rescued from Thrift Shops. This sparked my journey to reimagine, redesign and remanufacture our complete line of Yoga & Meditation Accessories from rescued materials.

Our mission at Love My Mat is to make yoga accessories and meditation props more sustainably than any other products available.

Many yoga and meditation prop companies claim to be sustainable or environmentally friendly, but don't always share how or why they are. Transparency is important to us so I want to share more about our design approach, production methods and all our processes with you.

Rescued Textiles

We knew we couldn't contribute to this astronomical amount of waste if sustainability is truly is at the heart of our business. I personally source unwanted textiles from thrift shops and fabric liquidators. We're saving textiles from entering landfills by thrifting them or purchasing deadstock, end of rolls or imperfect fabrics.  

Natural Fibre Preference

We choose fabrics for their functionality and aesthetic while being mindful of the material content. We try to purchase cottons or natural fibres whenever possible as these types of materials are biodegradable unlike polyester. 

Biodegradable Cotton

Many yoga prop manufactures use Polyurethane Foam then wrap it in cotton to fill their bolsters. While this does offer good stability, these fillings will never leave the earth. They won't biodegrade and most will never even be recycled.

At Love My Mat we only use cotton to fill our bolsters. We pack in as much 100% cotton batting as possible so you don't have to sacrifice sustainability for stability. 

Natural Alternatives

We are the only yoga prop manufacturer that makes all-natural Knee Pillows. Most Knee Pads are made with EVA foam, plastics or rubber. We make our Knee Pillows with left over material scraps (which reduces our waste even more) and fill them with flax seeds to provide you with the cushioning and support you need in the most sustainable way.

Sourcing Locally

We source all the materials and fillings for our yoga props and meditation accessories from businesses as close to us as possible. This helps to reduce shipping emissions and support our local economy.

All of our Meditation Cushions, Mini Round Bolsters and Buckwheat Hull Pillows are filled with biodegradable buckwheat hulls that we order directly from a farm in Quebec.

Our Eye Pillows and Knee Pillows are filled with flax seeds grown in the Canadian Prairies. While we filled our Hot & Cold Therapy Bags and Mini Weighted Blankets  with Hard Wheat Berries grown in Ontario.

Local Manufacturing

All Love My Mat yoga accessories and meditation props are made in our shop in Hamilton, Ontario. Our main team of 5 ladies work in the shop with 3 other local women who sew from home. 

We hand-stuff all our bolsters. We hand-fill all our meditation cushions. We wash, iron, cut, serge and sew almost everything on-site. This saves in unnecessary shipping emissions and packaging waste. 

Reducing Textile Waste

As we work towards becoming as zero-waste as possible, we are always coming up with creative ways to use our fabric scraps. As mentioned above, our Knee Pillows were born from left over pieces of fabric after cutting bolsters. We made Fitted Face Masks during the pandemic and Zipper Pouches from the scraps of Yoga Props Bags and Classic Bags. 

We recently started making Lavender-filled Hearts from the tiniest leftover bits of fabrics, too. We're careful not to create new products that aren't necessary for living a healthy, happy life. 

Working towards becoming a zero-waste company isn't easy, but it is important. We're not perfect, but we continue to make small changes that will lead to big improvements for our company, our customers, our community and our earth.

Have questions about our sustainability initiatives? Reach out any time.
Thanks for reading and thanks for you support.
xo Shelley xo