What is in our Eco Yoga Mats

What’s in my Create Flow yoga mat?

Many companies are happy to tell you what’s not in their products, but are a little less of an open book when it comes to sharing what is in their products. At Create Flow transparency is fundamental in empowering our community to become conscious consumers.

We'll use this post to share with you the ingredients and manufacturing processes required to produce our beautiful eco yoga mats - transparency is the new black :)

Our quality, eco yoga mats are designed by us in Australia and manufactured under ethical workplace conditions in Taiwan. We have had a close relationship with the team in Taiwan for over 6 years.

This is what you'll find in our mats:

Natural tree rubber

Natural tree rubber (or latex) comes from trees. We source our rubber from a farm in Thailand, our farm is well established and is committed to no further clearing of surrounding forests.

The natural rubber used in our yoga mats is extracted from rubber trees by a method called tapping, similar to how maple syrup is harvested.

Tapping involves small incisions made in the bark so that the tree can release latex fluid. This fluid flows into containers and is used as the main ingredient in our mats.

Latex liquid is a sticky, milky sap, and requires a couple of steps before it will be sold as natural rubber.

Sulphur

To create our yoga mats the natural tree rubber under goes a process called vulcanisation, an essential process for all natural rubber mats, without it, you'd be doing downward dog in a sticky mess of rubber.

Vulcanisation involves heating the rubber with a small amount of sulphur (roughly the the same amount of sulphur as you'd add to a heated spa to keep it clean).

BHT

BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene) is not as scary as the name suggests. BHT is widely used for its antioxidant properties.

You can find BHT in cosmetic products, foods and other products to assist in slowing down the process of oxidisation. BHT has a very low acute toxicity and is non-carcinogenic.

Dyes

To colour our mats we use non-toxic, solid inorganic dyes that have been extracted from minerals.

T- Grip (Create Flow Studio mat only)

The top, grippy surface of our new Studio eco yoga mat, is made from Biodegradable TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane).

Biodegradable TPU manufacturing process is low in toxicity, and biodegradable TPU is exposed to fewer harmful chemicals, such as solvents, which is better for the natural environment. We bind the two layers of biodegradable TPU and natural tree rubber with a non toxic glue.

Biodegradable TPU also holds up in hot and humid yoga studios.

Biodegradable 

At the end of almost any product’s useful life, it has to be disposed of in some way. How this is carried out can have a significant impact on the environment and the world that we’re leaving for our children.

When composted in soil, all of our mats will start to biodegrade after approximately 5 years.

There are many other ways to repurpose your yoga mat too, such as:

• Many studios that run community classes will happily accept a clean mat to be gifted to someone who needs one.
• Mats can be cut up to protect furniture and flooring
• Add some insulation and padding for a camping trip
• An old mat under the surf board rack will protect the quiver from any scratches and bumps (very important!).

In case you’re wondering what’s not in our mats…

We are proud to manufacture mats that are free from all the nasties. All of our eco yoga mats in Australia contain no heavy metals, ozone-depleting substances, phthalates, formaldehyde, toxic glues, PVC or TPE. PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) and TPE (Thermoplastic elastomers) are known to release toxic chemicals such as chlorines and phthalates with the potential to be a carcinogens.

We use plastic free packaging for all of our products, as we use cardboard boxes, glass jars, paper and biodegradable postage bags.

We hope that this article has been helpful for you and has contributed to your trust in our brand.