FOUNDER AND CEO
CARMU, GROSSE POINTE FARMS
EMPLOYEES: 1
REVENUE: $1M (2026 EST.)
A decade ago, a thought struck Kelly Withers during a yoga class: Everyone had the same outfits and the same mats.
She sensed an opportunity at a time when “athleisure” wear was turning workout accessories into part of a person’s style.
Over time, the Grosse Pointe Farms resident started developing ideas, to the point of ordering products she could bring to market.
As fate would have it, she took delivery of those products on the same day in 2024 that she was laid off from her job as a user experience designer.
The result was Carmu in Grosse Pointe Farms, which is turning the yoga mat into a fashion accessory and gaining attention internationally.
Withers spent $5,000 to get the initial shipment of products manufactured. The next step was generating market interest. At the time, she had no industry connections — but she did have plenty of determination to produce them.
To make her company stand out, she researched potential clients via social media.
“I find them on Instagram and send a DM,” Withers says. “I’ll send them a sample. One in six people do yoga, and I have a cool product.”
She began sending the mats to retailers and studios, as well as to members of the press and anyone else she thought could help generate demand. Following weeks of outreach, she eventually got a big break.
“The day I launched my company, on May 30, 2024, I looked at Vogue magazine and my mat was on the cover with Hailey Bieber,” she recalls.
The Vogue issue was followed by coverage in Glamour and GQ (which named Carmu the best new hot yoga mat), as well as an award from Pop Sugar.
“The next step was getting the yoga mats to retailers — fashion-forward ones, wellness ones — and putting it on Goop,” she says. “I think it helped to have the most reputable fashion magazine cover my product. I always describe the yoga mats as a fashion line. They’re meant to accessorize with your clothes.”
To give her launch a boost, Withers went all in by cashing in her 401(k) and taking out a loan against her home.
“I put in $100,000,” Withers says. “I doubled down on everything.”
The Carmu mat is made of microsuede, which is designed to not only feel comfortable, but actually becomes more “grippy” as a person sweats more. The name Carmu was created to honor the entrepreneur’s late mother, Carolyn Mulligan Withers.
Withers did face design challenges along the way, particularly because she was determined to give her mats a distinctive shape that would make them recognizable when someone walked into a yoga class with one.
“The other thing that was a hiccup was packaging design,” Withers says. “I had a hard time with it. I had really big ideas for how I wanted the packaging to be, and then I sat on it too long and ended up going with what I have now, which is perfect.”
With her first year coming to a close and 2026 sales projected at close to $1 million, Withers is looking into potential partnerships that will allow her to scale the operation globally.
— Dan Calabrese
