Introduction
In Italy and elsewhere we are rediscovering how taking care of ourselves and our own well-being is a privilege that enhances and improves our lifestyle and that of those around us.
The covid crisis with its restrictions has in fact helped strengthen this international trend.
In addition to spas, which have become the object of research and design to provide wellness in public spaces, Home Wellness is emerging, that is, the demand by people to have an area for themselves created within their own home, with maximum performance.
Given the demand from the market, Starpool, a leading brand in the field of personal wellness solutions, has noted that private individuals, and consequently architects and interior designers, are increasingly looking to broaden the concept of the Bathroom to opt for solutions specifically dedicated to the well-being and mental and physical beauty of the person.
Prevention, physical exercise, proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are important aspects when it comes to integrated personal care. We are re-discovering the benefit and value of time dedicated to self-care and a new kind of rite that drives us to rethink and redesign places and spaces, both small and large, also for domestic spaces to be integrated into the 'bathroom' system since they represent technical-functional as well as prestigious solutions that enhance the lifestyle, add value and upgrade the house by creating advantages for living and feeling better.
Finally, we can talk about the advantages and benefits of having a spa without having to leave the house!
To balance the rhythms of daily activities, from work to family and personal commitments, to counteract stress and the disadvantages of a hyperactive, often sedentary lifestyle typical of our time and of large cities, the focus on wellness, understood as a daily practice for a healthy approach to life, is a fast-growing trend.
Spas, hotel-related facilities, wellness centres, home spaces and others are directly interested in and touched by Starpool's strategy and products, and we are very happy to deal with them.
What is the new positioning of the Starpool brand in Italy and around the world?
Starpool currently positions itself in Italy and around the world as an all-round wellness expert. On the one hand, we support private individuals in designing and creating their spaces dedicated to wellness at home, helping them define the best methods of use so that the installed product yields the maximum mental and physical benefit. On the other hand, we support the business world such as hotels, day spas, beauty centres, but not only. Gyms and professional athletes as well, in terms of integrated recovery training, companies in terms of corporate wellness and wellbeing applied to the quality of working life, and finally the world of medicine such as health professionals who, thanks to our equipment and technologies, can maximize the effectiveness of their work.
Starpool's current scenario involves an active strategy on various fronts, how did you come up with your medical and scientific approach in which Starpool and its philosophy can be placed?
Although the company was already an authoritative player in the spa sector and recognised for the quality of the materials used, exclusive design and professionalism in designing and giving advice on spaces, we started this scientific approach back in 2013 when we began to scientifically measure what was happening in people's bodies when they used a spa. Together with Doctor Alessandro Corsini, Inter's sports doctor at the time, supported by the University of Brescia and its scientific laboratory, we carried out a statistical survey in which people were asked why they used spas. We then scientifically studied the correct alternation of heat, cold reaction and rest, which allows the benefits of the spa experience to be metabolised. The results were then published in a scientific journal.
A few years later, we realized that we could no longer focus only on the body but also on the mind. Here, we decided to involve the neuroscience department of the University of Rovereto by developing mindfulness and guided breathing programmes.
Over the last two years, partly due to the fact that Covid has changed market behaviour by making consumers attentive to the truth and effectiveness of the products and services they buy, and partly due to the fact that the company has grown and structured itself in a specific direction, we have decided to set up an in-house scientific research department to analyse the scientific bibliography and carry out in-depth research to study those areas of health where we can have the greatest impact: stress, sleep, performance and longevity.
Several research projects relating to these four areas have been launched for which sample groups and objectives have been defined.
What role does medical-scientific research play and how are you conducting it?
The current role is to validate the effectiveness of all solutions that are proposed. We no longer want to simply describe the benefits of a product but we also want to try to explain how best to use it so that a given benefit can be obtained.
Scientific research makes it possible to identify how to use equipment and possibly how to combine them. For example, the sauna has a beneficial effect when it is followed by a cold reaction of an appropriate magnitude.
Today, when a new product is developed, the focus is no longer just on making it beautiful, durable and sustainable, all functional and aesthetic characteristics that Starpool has always focused on, but on making it so that it can yield the benefits that scientific research has previously validated and that the customer seeks and desires.
What issues have you analysed that, until recently, seemed to be insignificant, and how are you addressing them?
Among the various topics we have analysed in recent times, we definitely mention the four pillars, which we also talked about above and will discuss in more detail below.
Up until a few years ago, the parameters we used to define a new product were mainly related to the world of architecture and the needs of the market. We assessed the ability to characterize a place, to give a space an aesthetic and visual identity through a given product. In addition to the functionality of the proposed solution and model, the focus was on the technology that had to make the product functional for a changing market. Aesthetics, functionality and market requirements were, are and remain important parameters for Starpool. But not only this. We can say today that it is different, we still research the design, the materials, the technological innovation, but the most important thing to achieve and obtain is a positive impact on people's lives.
We have identified the following as areas of interest:
- Stress management where, for us at Starpool, relaxation is never an end in itself but a goal and a way to consciously manage stress, a need recognised worldwide;
- Getting a good night's sleep as sleep is an important factor to be protected that ensures well-being and health;
- In today's world, whatever job people do, we are all asked to perform and be productive and efficient.
- To live longer, this does not simply mean to live longer but to enjoy a quality of life and delay the chronic inflammation that leads to the diseases typical of old age.
What benefits do the products and solutions you offer have on health, the body and general well-being?
It obviously depends on the product. We assume that all products are categorized according to the benefit they produce on human beings. So each product category identifies certain benefits. For example, the Finnish sauna trains the cardiovascular system, increases tissue oxygenation and promotes the drainage of metabolic waste. The steam bath (where the heat is less intense but more humid than in the sauna) promotes skin exfoliation, the removal of skin impurities and clears the upper respiratory tract. The Mediterranean bath promotes the elasticity of skin tissue, accelerates the drainage of metabolic waste, improves the quality of sleep, and promotes the elimination of adipose accumulations with prolonged periods. And on and on with all the other products and/or product categories.
However, I would like to point out two innovative solutions that we have at Starpool. Zerobody Dry Float, the “dry float” that has an impact on stress reduction, lowering cortisol and promoting mental training by encouraging focus, clarity and concentration. It works and acts on rest and maximum muscle recovery that comes from a scientific condition called “microgravity condition” that allows the muscle to rest.
Zerobody Cryo, “cold therapy” known to have an impact on longevity because, when used correctly and consistently, it strengthens the immune system. Important for immediate muscle recovery and thus used in professional sports because it immediately stops the production of metabolic waste and prevents muscle pain after training.
It is well known that the subject of the aging of the Italian population is a real fact and few realities are focusing on projects geared in this direction. From the medical point of view, how do you relate to the issue and what do you promote for a correct prevention of old age?
We do not intervene directly in diseases and everything medical because it is not within the company's competence. We do enter the medical sphere through some of our equipment and then work as a team to achieve the highest possible benefit. The Italian population is ageing due to a series of macro-economic dynamics that we, as a company, cannot change; instead, we try to help today's young people to live better and longer and, on the other hand, to improve the health of the elderly by giving them a dignified and quality life.
Zerobody Dry Float based on dry flotation is a product that is also often proposed in nursing homes because it is suitable for the person's rest and recovery by reducing the discomfort of bedsores in the elderly who are bedridden. Moreover, in an almost total absence of gravity, the body regenerates itself, giving senile people who are mentally well to continue living well by combining mindfulness exercises with the use of this equipment.
We try to make people aware of mindfulness as a regular, positive daily habit. Also in the world of beauty, we are moving the beauty market away from the aesthetic result, which is important but not an end in itself and not lasting, to a beauty that, if it comes from within the person, is the product of mental and physical balance, which should contribute to the rejuvenation of the entire population.
Starpool helps enhance the effectiveness of physiotherapy and osteopathy therapies with products and methods proven by scientific research
What products have been specifically designed for this growing market segment and which channels do you use to address B2C directly?
The health innovation technologies that have a big impact on longevity and delaying aging are cold therapy, photobiomodulation, molecular hydrogen and dry flotation.
Starpool's way of working directly with the end customer focused on longevity is based on the promotion of these technologies. When we are contacted and receive a request, we do ad hoc consulting to define the correct and suitable equipment to use within the home space and achieve the desired benefits.
We also work indirectly, sensitizing facilities to the importance of the topic. The more centres working on longevity that exist, the more people will be able to take advantage of the solutions to make these practices a daily practice.
Lifestyle and trends. The “swings” from one culture to another, such as from Nordic to African-Moroccan, are interesting. Is this a fashion-related trend or is it something else, how do you assess the influences of other cultures on the Italian one?
Cultural differences do not represent a trend, these are found in the cultural differences. For example, Northern European people use the Finnish sauna as it is an intrinsic tradition in their DNA. In that market, we offer our services without training on how to use the product itself.
The same applies to cold therapy products. It makes little sense to propose them to populations that live in low temperatures almost all year round and experience cold therapy naturally. It is no coincidence that they are taught to dive into the frozen lake or snow immediately after taking a sauna.
It is these criteria of evaluation and cultural respect that change the way a company approaches its target market.
However, there are many more of these cultural differences. At Starpool, we address them together with the 36 external partners who are present in the area and are able to interpret the concept of corporate wellness by adapting it to local needs and customs, tradition and habits.
Among today's trends, we are witnessing a quest and a human need to regain direct contact with the natural world. Do you identify yourself with this and what is Starpool's philosophy in the relationship between people and nature?
We recognise ourselves very much in this trend. Even before Covid, we developed outdoor solutions with the idea that wellness is closely connected to the outdoor environment. Exploiting the natural element such as snow for cold therapy, for example, and designing saunas to be placed in outdoor environments integrating with the natural ecosystem in a sustainable and aesthetically pleasing way, was an initial approach in response to this trend.
On the other hand, our company, founded in Val di Fiemme, makes the choice every day to stay here in the territory and not to move elsewhere where business would be easier due to the central geographic position. We are connected to the surrounding territory and we are inspired by the surrounding woods confirming our choice to stay in Trentino every day.
What does cryotherapy consist of and what are your products?
Cryotherapy is an application of “cold therapy”, i.e. the physiological reaction of the human body to contact with low temperatures. Cryotherapy technology is provided by a “cryo chamber” or “cryo sauna”, which is fundamentally based on the use of nitrogen, a thermal insulator that must be released at exaggeratedly low temperatures (we are talking as low as -180 degrees), lasting only a few seconds/minutes, in order to counteract the heat of the body and the environment. An effective treatment, but somewhat invasive and risky; the nitrogen is in fact released from nozzles which, if they come into direct contact with the skin, risk burning it.
In more recent years, the electric version of the “cryo chamber” was developed, which does not use nitrogen but has the drawback of being unsustainable from an energy point of view because it consumes a lot of energy.
With the knowledge that cold therapy provides important benefits for strengthening the immune system and for recovery for athletes, Starpool has developed Zerobody Cryo, which has the same efficacy as cryotherapy and cold water immersion but is less invasive, allows a gradual approach, and is extremely sustainable because it consumes as much energy as an electrical appliance.
Zerobody, a sort of relaxing and pleasant cradle for the body, what is it used for?
Until 2016, Starpool had only ever focused on the well-being of the body until it decided to also approach mental well-being. At the time, there was an extensive scientific bibliography on floating in salt water as one of the most effective techniques for relaxation and stress management, but one that was not readily available to everyone: in fact, it takes a very long time for the brain to be able to accept that the body is in the water without any danger, and it also requires actions such as undressing and getting wet, and after the session, rinsing, drying and dressing. All this requires an investment in air and water treatment facilities for the floating areas.
Consequently, Starpool, through the development of ad hoc research projects, has managed to design a product that achieves the same benefits of floating in salt water but in a dry version: the application of this technology is consequently much more versatile, fast, effective, suitable for everyone, and consistent with what we want to promote all over the world, i.e. making wellness a daily habit.
The market in the United States was prepared for this type of solution and recognised the potential in Zerobody Dry Float. Precisely for this reason, fwas quickly recognised in the American market, so much so that it was chosen by important international companies related to sports for a fast and effective solution for the recovery of athletes. Thanks to the notoriety acquired in the American market, our brand is now entering the European and Italian sports world. It is now a product that enters people's homes, companies and hotels that want to offer this service to their customers, in nursing homes for the elderly, and in physiotherapy.
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