Review: Suga Mat

I love the smell of neoprene in the morning, and that’s not just an Apocalypse Now reference. It’s the truth. If you've ever surfed, the smells of neoprene, wax, and salt water all have powerful memories attached to them.

It’s just too bad that neoprene, as a material, is terrible for the environment. It’s made from petrochemicals in a process that is extremely energy-intensive, and it doesn’t ever break down. Before people started cutting and sewing it into wetsuits to help maintain your core temperature in the water, the material was used to line landfills. It’s gross.

If surfers are natural conservationists, it goes against their most basic principles to use and discard a material that is so harmful to the environment. “As surfers, we’re the canaries in the coal mine. We’re ambassadors for the ocean,” said Suga founder, surfer and yogi Brian Shields. “We can’t be using a single-use petroleum product.”

Suga

Shields, a former environmental attorney, saw piles of used and damaged wetsuits and realized that there was a problem in the surfing industry. He started collecting the neoprene in bins in surf shops up and down the West Coast—from British Columbia to Ensenada, Mexico—and remade it into premium-quality yoga mats. The name “Suga” comes from combining the words “surfing” and “yoga” and was founded in that epicenter of surfing, yoga and karmic goodness known as Encinitas, California.

In addition to used wetsuits at surf shops, he’s also working with wetsuit manufacturers to collect their scraps. Suga mats are then made in American factories for distribution.

I’ve been using a Suga mat for a week. The regular-sized Suga is slightly larger than the standard yoga mat—six feet long, instead of 68 inches—and has a distinctive, mottled black and gray surface that is studded with different colors. They also sell an XL mat that measures 75 inches by 26 inches. It looks and feels, more or less, like shredded wetsuits repurposed into a yoga mat.

The dimpled surface feels grippy and the material absorbs moisture from my sweaty hands and feet. As you would expect from a mat made from wetsuits, it’s also easy to clean. Brushing off dirt and dog hair has been easy, but, like a wetsuit, you can also hose it down and let it dry.

The mat is extremely durable. My dogs often mistake my yoga mats for an impromptu dog bed, and my mats quickly become stippled with claw-sized craters. So far, the Suga Mat has survived my pets unscathed. The mats also come with a 30-day warranty, and you can send your used mats back to Suga for recycling. You can also purchase a Suga C2G (Cradle to Grave), which guarantees you a yoga mat for life. If the mat gets damaged, send it back to Suga for recycling and get a new one.

I have two complaints. First, with its 5mm thickness, this mat is pretty heavy (they also sell a travel yoga mat that is 3 mm thick and weighs less than three pounds). It’s significantly heavier than my usual Gaiam foam mat. That’s because the mat is significantly denser as well, which is my second complaint. In comparison to my other yoga mats, it feels less cushy.

Many yoga mats use soft open-cell foam to make them feel soft and cushy. Reworked neoprene doesn’t contain nearly as much air (it also doesn’t let in nearly as much dust, dirt or bacteria, for you sweaty hot yoga enthusiasts). According to Shields, the density actually provides more cushioning, rather than less. “Soft cell mats don’t actually provide more cushioning, even though it feels like it,” he said. The mat's firmness did make it much easier to balance during standing poses, but my knees and hands would have appreciated just a little more squishiness.

But it’s long past time for outdoor enthusiasts to start practicing the principles that we preach. A lot of the gear that we use to play outside has significant harmful impacts on the places we love, and any way you can reduce that would be helpful (also, regular yoga mats aren’t that great for you, either).

I'd probably keep the Suga mat at home or in my car, for protection from the ground if it took my fancy to do some sun salutations outside, and, yes, for my dogs to lie down on. As a yoga mat, I might prefer to tote other, lighter options to and from class. But as a reminder that surfing and yoga should work in harmony with the environment, and not hurt it, the Suga Mat is peerless.

I told Shields that one of my favorite attributes of the mat is how it smells when I put my face against it. “There’s no off-gassing!” he reassured me. “The binder is organic. It’s made for you.” It’s nice to smell neoprene, but this time guilt-free. If they start making organic, recyclable wetsuits that smell like Taco Bell, this particular surfer and yogi would be set.