Gaiam took its name from Gaia, the Greek goddess of the Earth. It sold to a group marketers had begun to call cultural creatives: people who cared about health, the environment and personal growth. Through catalogs, the web and stores, it offered yoga mats, organic goods and wellness videos. When it filed to go public in late 1999, Gaiam was one of the few lifestyle brands built around a set of values.

From Corporate Express to Yoga

Jirka Rysavy, who also founded the office supply company Corporate Express, started Gaiam in 1988. He bet that enough shoppers wanted products that matched their values, and that one company could serve them across many categories. Gaiam paired direct sales with media. Its fitness and yoga videos were products in their own right. They also drew customers to everything else Gaiam sold.

Sold the Mats, Kept Streaming

Gaiam priced at $5 a share in October 1999, a modest offering in a frothy year. It grew into a well-known yoga and fitness brand sold in big retail chains. Over time its two halves pulled apart. In 2016 it sold the Gaiam consumer brand business and kept its streaming video service. It renamed itself Gaia. Gaia still trades on Nasdaq under the ticker GAIA.

Cover: A Forest Interior, with a Seated Figure, Herman Saftleven. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a quiet forest interior (Gaia, the living earth).