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 Pura Vita Yoga eco-sustainable yoga mat

Contact Information

Ivo Grossi, Founder
911 Nob Hill Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
206.321.6433
ivo@puravitayoga.com

Industry
Health & Wellness, Yoga
Eco-Sustainable Mat

Year founded
2008

Existing Investors
Self-funded

Product Patent Status
Patent Pending

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PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY

The nearly 21 million active yoga practitioners in the U.S. are some of the most eco-conscious consumers in the market today, yet there are no truly environmentally-sustainable yoga mats currently available for them to buy.  After a year and a half of product design, prototypes and testing, Pura Vita has developed a patent pending eco-sustainable yoga mat that generates instant buzz in the yoga studio and lists of eager buyers with no formal promotions or advertising.  Waste from plastic bottles and used rubber continues to rise in the U.S. creating Green House Gases and a growing land-fill challenge; Pura Vita wants to be part of the solution.  Our environmentally sustainable yoga mat reclaims used bicycle inner tubes and weaves them together with polyester thread (PET in the future) to create a high-end mat with features desired by most yoga students and instructors.


TARGET BUYER / PRODUCT

Our target buyer is looking for a long-lasting comfortable mat that makes a statement about their eco-consciousness.  The Pura Vita Yoga Mat delivers with unmatched grip and support even under extreme perspiration.  The reclaimed bicycle inner tubes are FDA food grade safe Butyl rubber (the same as used in lipsticks, facial make up and suntan products).


COMPANY DESCRIPTION / COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Pura Vita is committed to Triple Bottom Line operations by: Economic – creating a product that will conservatively generate a fair profit margins enabling creation of local jobs and contribution to the tax base; Environmental – Upcycling bicycle inner tubes into a product with a long life span and potential for continued recycling; Social – creating jobs and a fair wage for U.S. based artisan weavers while promoting the longevity of their craft.


PURA VITA DIFFERENTIATORS

Our competitiors all use various combinations of natural rubber, jute, organic cotton and TPE which must be baked in an oven and/or pressed by a machine (with added chemicals) to create the final mat. Pura Vita’s advantage is in our reuse of existing rubber bicycle inner tubes and our positive impact on the environment by achieving an approximate reduction of 19.5 lbs of CO2 equivalent per mat. 


MARKETING AND SALES

Pura Vita yoga mat has been shown and tested in premiere yoga studios on the West Coast (Exhale Venice and Shakti Seattle), in addition to our private studio and Denali Fitness Club in Seattle. We plan to leverage the word-of-mouth (one Pura Vita mat in a studio creates immediate and significant buzz) which will be created by delivering the current 30 pioneer customers in waiting list who are strategically located in Seattle, Los Angeles, Boulder and New York and by exploiting web 2.0 applications like FB and Twitter. For proper positioning we will also harness personal relationships with world renowned yoga teachers. After launch the product will be sold directly to consumers through website.


SUSTAINABLE BRANDS ’09 NEW VENTURE EXCHANGE CONTEST SEMI-FINALIST

sustainable-life-media-logo.gifPura Vita Yoga was one of nine companies selected as a finalist in the Sustainable Brands contest, gaining the priviledge of presenting at the SB '09 Conference in Monterey, CA.  Pura Vita joined design and brand leaders from a cross section of organizations such as Adobe, Adidas, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Steelcase, and an unprecedented list of others.


THE TEAM

Ivo Grossi – Founder, 12 years of domestic and International executive experience in the health, wellness and fitness industry. He has developed and led marketing and sales teams, markets, products and technology while contributing to the growth of Technogym, now world wide market leader. B.S. in business economics from University L. Bocconi in Milan - Italy. Yoga and meditation practitioner since 2000.

Cosetta Romani – Co-founder, a registered Yoga Alliance Teacher and graduate student of Prana Vinyasa Flow by Shiva Rea. Cosetta teaches yoga, meditation and Yoga Trance Dance in the Seattle area. She has developped a broad West Coast network of yoga enthusiasts.

Todd Rawlings – COO, former VP in IT and Enterprise Operations at WaMu / JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Rawlings is a certified PMP Project Manager and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with 24 yrs industry experience across retail, financial, eCommerce, information technology, software and business operations. BA Speech Communications from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; MBA coursework at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Seattle, WA.