We shared Mylle, the maker of the coolest inflatable pools ever, when the brand first came onto the scene with their collection of modern patterned and colored heavyweight vinyl pool accessories. We’re now apt to also bestow them the title as the brand with the coolest indoor/outdoor floor mats for their trio of protective padding designed to piece together in order to keep the home gym, office, playroom, or inflatable pool party area safe and comfortable underfoot.
During the height of the pandemic many households converted a room or their garage into home gyms. Dedicated playrooms also became commonplace, alongside home offices outfitted with standing desks. Such setups are best paired with supportive and soft flooring underfoot, but mats generally land on the bingo card of functional rather than fashionable.
Mylle founder, Kris Myllenbeck, says her brand’s mat line was born out of that reality. After attempting to source a padding solution for her line of inflatable pools, she quickly realized that floor mats available offered slim pickings for the fashionable. “The market was dominated by extremes: mats for CrossFit workouts or mats for babies and toddlers,” Myllenbeck says. “This problem was essentially begging me to solve it, no pun intended.”
Drawn to the practical and functional puzzle mats, but put off by existing garage gym color options and patterns best suited for the pacifier crowd, the fashion industry veteran took to redesigning the humble floor mat with the same eye for aesthetics, material, and form that established the brand’s niche in pool gear.
“The goal was to create something that I want to, yes, put under my pool, but that I also use for my own personal indoor gym/office space without sacrificing my design aesthetic,” the Seattle-based stylist explains. “I created the thing I needed in my own life… Perfect for under the pool, yoga, wrestling with toddlers, but pretty enough to be used in your home.”
While we wouldn’t recommend these floor mats for anyone lifting more than a 25lbs kettlebell, the nontoxic EVA foam embellished with printed film adds a half-inch of cushioning without concerns of phthalates, lead, formaldehyde, or latex – well suited for sessions of downward dog, burpees, or playing with a toddler.
At $100 to $125 for a set of 9 tiles, which cover 72″x72″ when fully pieced together, Mylle’s mats have us reimagining our own workout space into something beyond bro basics, and at reasonable cost.
