Traditional hand weights are a thing of the past.
Stakt, best known for its stackable Stakt Mat that retails for $88, on Monday is launching silicone-based Stakt Weights, $98, which can be flexed to two, four or six pounds, and has been granted a patent. The new product, which comes in three colors — iron, dune and seafoam — will be available on the brand’s website and will be used by an array of fitness facilities. The brand is expected to reach $5 million in sales in 2024, tripling its business from last year, according to industry sources.
“With the Stakt Mat, we’ve been able to meet thousands and thousands of consumers who are either working out at home or doing group fitness, going to gyms and studios and using all sorts of equipment,” said Stakt cofounder Taylor Borenstein. “One of the things that we had heard most or had seen from feedback is that hand weights are clunky, and you need multiple hand weights to achieve one goal.”
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So the Stakt Weights were born. Each set includes a two-pound base, which can be used on its own, and four two-pound boosts that can be added in to customize the weight. Boosts can also be connected to be used as a mini weighted bar.
“They differ from the current market offering because there’s nothing that is fully adjustable at this smaller weight range,” Borenstein said. “There are big adjustable weights when you’re flexing between 15 and 60 pounds…but the demographic that we primarily work with is doing yoga, sculpt, mat Pilates. They’re toning at a smaller weight range.”
Stakt cofounder Millie Blumka added: “[It’s] allowing the consumer to pick what they want within that class, but also for the instructors and studios to have less equipment and just be able to have less clutter within their space.”
Stakt’s latest launch comes on the heels of continued success with the mat, which has sold out several times over. Borenstein and Blumka set out to create an alternative to traditional yoga mats after discovering during the pandemic they were using them for an array of other activities and were often seeking more support from them — while the Stakt Mat can stack for additional support, it can also be folded into a step stool for incline workouts or a yoga block.
“Now we have eight different colors. We also have the Stakt Mat Pro, $118, which has all the things that people love about the Stakt Mat. It’s lightweight. It’s foldable, and it doubles as a block, but it also has a premium, textured layer,” said Borenstein, noting nearly 75,000 people have experienced the brand to date.
The Stakt team views the weights launch as the next evolution of the brand, which has also partnered with other well known fitness companies like Prince over the years.
“We’re looking to grow from Stakt the mat to Stakt the brand, not just being known as a mat company, but as a lifestyle, wellness and fitness company,” Blumka said.
Borenstein added: “We are focused on continuing to develop more functional and convenient, versatile fitness products and better products that are already on the market as well as a few other novel, new ideas in the pipe for the years to come.”
