Who has black belt in martial arts mats? Creator of the Zebra line

Chuck Blanski sells flexible foam floor mats. Big whoop!

Except that he's grossing nearly $7 million a year in the process, including a 6.3 percent revenue increase in 2009, when the deep recession was putting the rest of the industry ... uh ... on the mat.

Blanski, 53, is the founder of Crescent Products Inc., a Maple Grove company that designs and markets martial arts and self-defense training equipment, including the specialized floor mats sold under the Zebra label to the growing number of martial arts training facilities springing up around the country.

It took your friendly neighborhood business columnist nearly 74 years of blissful ignorance before he discovered that a floor mat is not just a floor mat when it comes to the martial arts -- karate, judo, tae kwon do, jujitsu, kick-boxing and a myriad of offshoots.

No, indeed: The "grappling arts" -- judo and jujitsu -- use a thicker, comparatively softer mat to absorb intense takedowns; and the "striking arts" -- karate, tae kwon do and kick-boxing -- require a thinner, firmer version to keep footing from catching and creating joint fractures during rapid spins and kicks. The mats can cost $3,000 to $5,000 for a 20-by-20-foot ring surface.

All of which brings us to the reason why Crescent's sales grew to $6.7 million last year from $6.3 million in 2008, despite the worst recession in a couple of generations.

Mixed martial arts

And believe me, there is a crowd: Thanks to pay-per-view TV, MMA has become "phenomenally successful," according to Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim, whose new book, "Blood in the Cage," tracks the sporting sensation.

"More males in that magic 18 to 24 demographic will pay to watch these [MMA] fights than will watch college football bowl games or NBA playoff games for free," Wertheim said in an online interview with radio journalist Kai Ryssdal.

Early in 2008, Blanski introduced a mat specifically designed for the MMA market.

The new addition to the Zebra line differs from his conventional martial arts mats in several ways. Blanski said: It's somewhat softer than a "grappling arts" mat to accommodate takedowns, yet firm enough to prevent joint injuries when "striking arts" moves are used. It also is designed with untextured vinyl to avoid skin bruises.

Sales of the MMA mats jumped to $1.9 million in the first year on the market, accounting for 35 percent of Blanski's total sales in 2008. Then, with the addition of MMA cages, boxing rings, punching bags and installation services, MMA sales climbed 24 percent in 2009, to $2.35 million.

The company also supplies pillows, pads and back supports to the chiropractic and dental industries, although that business has been flat for years at about $600,000 in annual sales.

Mind you, Blanski has never been involved in martial arts of any kind, although he brags that he owns "a black belt in martial arts mats."

'I dream stuff up'

Blanski, who never went to college, took a job shortly after his high school graduation in 1974 with a flexible foam fabricating business. He started as a foam cutter, was promoted to sales and in the mid-1980s, he and two friends bought their own fabricating business.

After they sold that company in the early 1990s, he stayed on with the new owner as a sales rep for five years, a period during which his employer bought a small manufacturer of judo mats. Put in charge of that business, Blanski built it from $250,000 to $2.2 million in annual sales in less than two years.

"I dream stuff up," he said. "I figured I could come up with [a product line] if I could just hang in there for a while."

So he bought Crescent Products, the supplier of pillows and back rests, from his former employer, even though he recognized that there was only modest growth potential. But it was enough.

In 1998 Blanski introduced his first martial arts mat, a premium-quality, premium-priced product designed for the striking arts market. He later added wall pads, column pads and a bargain-priced mat for budget-conscious clients. And he was on his way.

By the end of 2007, sales were up to $5.3 million. Then came the recession, which battered the martial arts market nationwide. But the mixed martial arts phenomenon intervened.

In fact, it has had so much impact that Blanski recently introduced a monthly magazine, dubbed "MMA Business," to speak to the industry on such topics as facility startups, management hiring and marketing.