Corq

Get your yogi grip on with slide-free, cork-based yoga mats.

About Corq

Corq said enough is enough to rubber yoga mats, and created a yoga mat out of cork, a sustainable and comfortable material. Between the positive impact on the environment, cork is 100% recyclable, renewable, and biodegreable, and the anti-slip, antimicrobial, and increased cushion provided, Corq make us think, why didn’t we start using cork yoga mats sooner?

Why We Love Them

We’ve been exercising on rubber mats for years, never questioning if they were actually the best mats for us to use. Even as we fold our mats two or three times to cushion our joints before a complicated yoga pose, we’ve keep loyal to rubber mats because there hasn’t been a good alternative available.

Origin Story

The Corq story starts in Alberta, Canada. John Gardiner always had a passionate view that being green didn’t mean sacrificing quality. He wanted to see this concept bought to life with an eye-catching range of eco-friendly yoga and fitness products. Learning more about cork, he realized that it was the perfect material to make sustainable yoga mats. Moreover, it was actually more comfortable, flexible, easy to clean, and easier to grip than rubber yoga mats. Corq, whose name nods to the ingredient that is so important to their brand, believes that no one will be using traditional rubber mats by 2025, and are leading the charge by creating the best cork yoga mats available.

The TL;DR

  • Yoga mats made of premium fine grain cork – nothing synthetic
  • No trees cut down – the cork mats are made by harvesting the outer bark of the corq
  • Cork is flexible, easy to clean, antimicrobial, and provides extra padding for enhanced comfort.
  • Corq also sells other cork based accessories like massage balls and carrying straps
  • 30 day risk free returns

The Science & The Soul

The Science

Don’t know much about cork outside of a wine bottle? Well strap in, because there is a lot of good that you’re missing out on.

The cork that Corq uses to create their mat comes from Portugal, where the quercus suber tree is harvested for its outer bark. The tree grows back for re-harvesting every 9 years and doesn’t have to be cut down, making it particularly good for the environment. Cork is anti-slip due to its honeycomb structure, and it becomes grippier with moisture, which makes it great for activities that involve a lot of sweat. Cork mats are also antimicrobial and easy to clean. They’re hypoallergenic, odor-free, lightweight, durable, renewable, and sustainable. If that wasn’t good enough, Cork is made out of 50% air, which provides added cushion during a workout. Even the mat’s underside material is natural – direct from Vietnamese rubber trees.

Now, how can you even think about going back to your rubber mat after reading that?

The Soul

Of course yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, so being soulful comes naturally to Corq. There are a couple of practical ways in which exercising on a Corq mat nourishes the soul. Firstly, the Portuguese cork industry that Corq supports is responsible for over 15,000 jobs, and sustains forest land which is home to numerous species of small mammals, birds, insects and plants. And for every order, Corq funds the Jari para REDD+ Avoided Unplanned Deforestation project.