If a museum visit inspires thought, something is going right. If it even leads to a startup idea, even better. As in the case of the Munich startup hejhej-mats, which wants to contribute to making the world of yogis even more sustainable with its closed-loop yoga mats. If you like the idea, you can currently Crowdfunding campaign support the two founders.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your product!
We are Anna Souvignier (25) and Sophie Zepnik (24). Anna completed her bachelor's degree in Marketing Management in Hamburg, and Sophie studied social economics in Nuremberg. We met during our semester abroad in Spain and then decided together to go to Sweden for our master's degree. In Malmö, we both studied Leadership for Sustainability, and it was during this time that the idea for hejhej-mats was born. During a museum visit in Gothenburg, we were inspired by a Turkish artist. She denounced yogis who often think they embody a sustainable lifestyle but nevertheless practice yoga on environmentally harmful plastic mats. Since we are both passionate about yoga, we felt a bit caught out. Because up until then, we too hadn't given our yoga mats much thought. So it was clear to us: we wanted to develop a sustainable yoga mat that would do something good for the planet. Our yoga mat is a closed-loop matThis means that it is made from recycled materials and can be recycled again at the end of its life cycle.
“We did not want to use new resources for our production”
2. But that's been around for a long time!
There is a wide range of yoga mats available. Sustainable yoga mats are already available, but we weren't entirely convinced by these alternatives. What is considered sustainable on the market are mostly products made from natural materials, such as natural rubber. This is mined in Southeast Asia and shipped to Europe, where it is then used to make yoga mats. However, we didn't want to use new resources for our production, as we believe there is already enough on the planet. We now use offcuts from foam production. Foam is practically everywhere in everyday life, in furniture and mattresses, for example. The production of such products naturally produces leftovers, which we can then use in our production.
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Financially, it's obviously difficult to manage everything on your own. A master's degree plus a startup doesn't allow for additional work, and at some point it became clear to us that we couldn't take on any other job at all. We wanted and needed to invest every bit of free time into hejhej-mats. That's also the reason why we're now starting a Crowdfunding campaign We hope to use this to raise funds for the final tests and adjustments to our yoga mat and ensure that we can produce the first batch. The preparation for crowdfunding is definitely not to be underestimated. But now we're finished and super happy with the result. You can find more information on our startnext page Watch our video and get more information about us. To thank you for your support, we also have some cool rewards there. You can choose something suitable.
https://youtu.be/M1BzVtIaNUI
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
We can't give you any facts and figures yet, as we're just getting started and aren't selling yet. Crowdfunding is starting now, and we naturally hope to reach our funding goal of €20,000. So far, the interest and feedback have been almost entirely positive. Of course, you get negative comments every now and then, and you're suddenly confronted with sexism. But that was an isolated incident; otherwise, everyone was enthusiastic and very interested in these yoga mats. We hope and believe it will continue this way, and we're looking forward to the future.
“Munich is our base”
5. What does Munich mean to you?
Sophie has had a close connection to Munich her entire life. She comes from the Allgäu region and has spent a lot of time there; after all, it's the closest big and cool city to the Allgäu. After we both completed our master's degrees in Malmö, we returned to Germany and had to choose a city. Since Sophie has family and friends there, and Anna's friends now live there too, we settled here first. We're not actually in Munich that often, though, as we're on the move a lot and always have to go somewhere new for hejhej-mats. But that's the great thing about working on your own startup. You can work from practically anywhere, which is why Munich is our base for now, but we can also be found in Malmö and other cities from time to time.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Of course, we dream of Unicorn and are convinced that our idea will be successful. We can combine the social, ecological, and economic dimensions in our product and thus contribute to a more sustainable planet. Many yogis are already interested in sustainability topics and care about nature. Therefore, we have the perfect target group that is interested in our project and will support us well.
7. Schwabinger 7 or Bob Beaman?
We've definitely had some fun nights at Bob Beaman over the last few years, even though a lot is changing in Munich's nightlife right now.
