Liforme has become the first British yoga company to earn B Corp Certification after achieving one of the best Impact Assessment scores of all time in its sector (2nd highest of all B Corps globally in the Sporting Goods category).
B Corp status is awarded to companies which live up to high standards of social and environmental impact. Of the first 100,000 companies that took B Corp’s very detailed Impact Assessment, only 3.5% achieved the minimum requirement of 80 points, with companies scoring on average 50.9 – making Liforme’s score of 115 points even more remarkable. There are currently around 5,000 B Corps globally and the movement is growing fast. Liforme is one of first 1,000 B Corps in the UK.
Launched in 2013 following 5 years of prior intensive R&D, by 2019 Liforme made it into the 2019 Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list as one of the top 100 fastest growing of all private companies based in the UK (based on hard factual sales data only), and has become a global market leading seller of premium yoga mats. The brand quickly and organically expanded internationally, and now has more than 85% sales outside the UK (with more than 40% coming from the huge American yoga market). Despite the fast and widespread growth, it has always been founder, James Armitage’s and all the team’s mission to ensure that the company stayed true to the values of Yoga that the brand espouses.
Liforme founder, James Armitage says: “I always fundamentally believed that by making Liforme a strong business, it could also be a strong force for good in the world. Thankfully nowadays these things are no longer mutually exclusive. As an entrepreneur you do need something to believe in to push through the relentless hardships of building a business from nothing. Otherwise you’d be insane to try, or perhaps even more insane not to give up.”
Since its formation, Liforme has placed Research and Design at the forefront of its sustainability mission, creating completely new and innovative materials, as well as functional performance enhancements, which allowed customers to transform their yoga practice while respecting the planet.
They invented an entirely new, non-toxic and biodegradable non-slip material, which sits on top of every Liforme yoga mat. The material is durable for its intended use, but when disposed of, will degrade in under five years in normal landfill conditions. Liforme’s unique and proprietary materials provide outstanding grip, as has been recognised by many of Liforme’s thousands of genuine customer reviews (averaging 4.93/5 to date). In addition, the bulk of Liforme’s mats are made using a very high quality natural rubber foam which provides the perfect balance of soft cushioning vs firm stability. And the beautiful and instantly recognisable designs are either laser-engraved on the surface or printed using non-toxic and eco-friendly inks (Liforme’s newer printed mats took over two years of research and testing to perfect and find the right materials). In addition to the usual testing for non-toxicity, in 2017 Liforme commissioned a detailed independent study from a leading polymer scientist at world leading science university Imperial College, London to confirm the non-toxicity of its materials (access the full report here on this page: https://liforme.com/pages/yoga-mat-history)
But Liforme’s commitment to environmental sustainability and good practice extends beyond their products. Since 2008, the company has freighted fewer than 1% of its products by air, choosing instead to utilise sea transportation to reduce the brand’s carbon footprint. Liforme has also planted over 220,000 trees so far through its partnership with TreeNation, resulting in more than 36,000 tonnes of CO2 being captured from the atmosphere through this initiative. All Liforme’s packaging is recyclable and carefully designed to avoid single-use plastics on the journey from production source right through to end customer.
Giving back has always been at the heart of Liforme’s business. The brand has built enduring and meaningful official partnerships with several globally recognised charities, though which it has donated so far more than US$650,000 to causes aligned with the company’s values and purpose. Liforme’s main official current and historic charity partners include: Friends of the Earth, WWF, RSPCA, GLAAD and Yoga Gives Back, and the business has also supported many more community and grass roots initiatives over the course of its business. In April 2020, when Liforme experienced a surge in its business because of an increase in at-home yoga practice, many Yoga studios and teachers around the World were struggling with the pandemic closures. So Liforme donated 100% of its profits for a whole month to a fund it set up (The Yoga Support Fund) which raised more than $100,000 to provide emergency grants to support hundreds of yoga teachers and studios around the World to help them pay their bills.
The B Corp Certification is a reflection of Liforme’s constant dedication to its mission of bringing the values of yoga to the yoga business.
Non-profit, B Lab began certifying companies that met high standards of social and environmental impact in 2006. The B Corp certification takes five areas into account: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. Each of these areas is assessed independently and companies are given category scores as well as an overall score. Liforme’s Impact Assessment recognised the 5 years of R&D that went into creating Liforme’s truly sustainable and eco-friendly products, and the business scored highly across the five areas of assessment. Another remarkable fact is that Liforme did not have to change any of its suppliers or any material aspect of its business operations through the process to achieve the exceptionally high B Corp score of 115 points – they did however opt to change their bank to one that is more ‘cooperative’ with the brand’s mission and values.
The B Corp certification is designed to give customers confidence that their money is being spent at companies which lead the movement towards more ethical business standards.
