Thicker, Heavier Mats?

1st February 2010

No one has ever complained of their mat being thicker than expectation. There have however been laments over it being thinner.

The thickness of the ecoYoga material has been underestimated during several productions over the past few years. The method of the current factory to ensure good quality material of minimum thickness has resulted in the mats being a very healthy 4mm. This allows for potential discrepancy below our standard 4mm (caused by machinery and our fabulous but temperamental compound).
The general outcome, teamed with the increased density of compound, is that the mats, certainly the latest grey batch, are 5mm in thickness and slightly heavier than norm.

It has been a learning curve dealing with the various production problems. The days of "seconds" and "sub standard"... be it because they were too thin, too much hessian exposed, the wrong hessian used, scorched, cut badly... can never be ruled out but are less and less.

It would have saved time and a lot of stress to have disposed of such material, as is common practice, but where possible it was salvaged.

During my time spent in factories I have been astounded by the waste of materials on the manufacturing level. Flaws, variations, surplus all; there is little room for error. Automated machinery creating identical products will grind to a halt if anything goes awry. ecoYoga mats however are made by a process of mechanisation. So many changeable factors during production requires hands-on power and vigilance. We revell in the variation which has required a reprogramming on behalf of the factories we work with. Bringing aesthetic and a bit of artistic flair to the factory floor can't be a bad thing . . .