SaunaNews
The Sauna Industry's Record of Note
Senior Wellness Correspondent & Hospitality Consultant
Arlene Scott brings over fifteen years of reporting and consulting experience across energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy-focused hospitality.
Arlene Scott is a Senior Wellness Correspondent for SaunaNews.com, bringing over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy. Her work focuses on the physiological benefits of passive heat therapies and the sustainable integration of sauna culture into modern wellness routines.
Arlene's background is rooted in the clean energy transition. She was a founding writer at MicrogridMedia.com, where she covered the technical and economic viability of desalination projects, microgrid deployments, and distributed renewable energy systems. During the mid-2010s, she was a regular contributor to Greentech Media (GTM) during its independent era — prior to the Wood Mackenzie acquisition in 2016 — reporting on the early integration of thermal energy storage and sustainable infrastructure.
Transitioning her focus from macro-energy systems to human-scale wellness, Arlene now applies her technical background to the hospitality sector. She operates as an independent consultant, advising boutique hotels and eco-resorts on the design, energy efficiency, and historical authenticity of commercial sauna and thermal spa installations. Her consulting work ensures that high-end wellness facilities balance traditional Nordic bathing principles with modern sustainable engineering.
Arlene holds a specialized certification in Applied Thermic Wellness from the Nordic Institute of Passive Heat Studies (NIPHS) and is a recognized associate member of the International Sauna Association (ISA). When she isn't reviewing the latest innovations in infrared technology or consulting on a new resort project, Arlene can be found tending to her own traditional wood-fired sauna in the Pacific Northwest. You can read her complete archive of essays on energy, wellness, and sustainable living at www.arlenescott.com.
Portal Thermaculture opened its fourth US club in Bozeman, Montana, on March 17, 2026. The company has gone from Boulder pop-ups to brick-and-mortar clubs in Denver, Minneapolis, and now Bozeman in roughly 14 months, with no disclosed outside investors and a two-building layout designed to keep buildout costs far below the $3 million to $5 million custom-bathhouse norm.
Therme Group hired a WhiteWater president and a Merlin Entertainments managing director in one week. But the entertainment-to-bathing talent migration runs far wider: a Meow Wolf co-founder, a Midas List VC, festival-circuit investors, trained theater performers, and nightclub operators are all building the next generation of bathing businesses. UNESCO classified Finnish sauna under festive events in 2020. The rest of the industry is catching up.
Three companies have built businesses around making saunas HSA and FSA-eligible through Letters of Medical Necessity. Each takes a different approach to the same legal question, and the IRS has made clear it is watching.
Leisurecraft launches the CT Element, a glass-fronted indoor sauna kit in three sizes built from Thermo Grandis. Priced between Almost Heaven and Auroom, it fills a gap in the home sauna market, but the wood choice and Canadian shipping logistics deserve a closer look.
Waterstruck Wellness, a community Nordic spa in Newcastle, Maine, is launching Sonic Sounds, a six-date ambient concert series that pairs live music with the thermal circuit. The series runs every other Sunday from June 14 through August 16.
The sauna marathon started as one group of friends in one Estonian town. It now spans at least three countries, holds two Guinness World Records, and draws participants from 20 nations. From Otepää to Schaffhausen to Finnish lake villages, the format is simple enough to replicate and flexible enough to adapt anywhere.
Logan Paul showed his 23.6 million YouTube subscribers an Estonian-made SaunaLife G6 outdoor sauna powered by a Saunum Air L heater in a vlog about his torn triceps injury. The organic mention, motivated by his father’s heart attack and citing cardiovascular research, represents Saunum’s largest unpaid audience exposure to date.
Forest Springs Resort, a 53-room boutique retreat on ten acres of Ozark forest in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, opened in May 2026 with a Haljas Single glass sauna from Estonia as its anchor amenity.
Tuli Lodge opened its third Seattle pop-up at Vulcan Real Estate’s Lake Union Piers, a 60,000-square-foot waterfront development. The move signals that developers are treating sauna as a pre-lease activation tool, a third capital model alongside venture-backed flagships and bootstrapped chains.
The perception-science literature has spent twenty years isolating the exact facial signals that move attractiveness ratings. Almost every one of those signals is a documented physiological output of routine sauna use. That is a real argument operators can stand behind.
The fourteen new sauna SKUs at ThermaSol.com are built in Sastamala, Finland by Kirami, the wood-fired hot-tub maker Harvia bought in May 2021 for EUR 7 million plus a EUR 4 million earnout. The cabins ship in Europe under the Kirami FinVision® nameplate. ThermaSol's American product pages say 'designed and crafted in the U.S.A.' Kirami's product pages say 'designed and manufactured in Finland.' The price band runs from $30,393 for an indoor Lumaria Medium to $107,182 for the outdoor flagship Ombra. The American premium sauna market has been culturally Finnish for years. Harvia has now closed the loop.
Søberg’s Thermalist Recovery System licenses contrast therapy programming, staff certification, and member tools to wellness venues. The peer-reviewed science is legitimate; the business case is not yet proven.
Kohler acquired KLAFS in 2024 and is now selling European-built saunas in the US with turnkey nationwide installation and a proprietary KLAFS FERO heater. SaunaNews maps the corporate strategy, the dual-brand play, and the vertical integration behind the biggest brand entrance the American sauna market has seen.
Three standards tracks are converging on U.S. sauna at once: EN 18164 for rooms, UL 60335-2-53 for heaters, and now a white paper arguing operators need their own certification framework. SaunaNews maps the gap.
Auroom Wellness launches VelEira, a cold plunge designed as a companion product to its outdoor saunas rather than a standalone recovery tub. The matching cladding options signal a product strategy shift: contrast therapy as a sauna add-on, not a separate category.
Haljas Houses has won its third Red Dot Design Award with the Hele Nano and Tarantula. The SaunaNews team has used the Nano firsthand, and its no-crane delivery model is a genuine differentiator in the US prebuilt market.
Therme Bucharest’s Herbarium festival assembled 92 aufguss masters from 26 countries, more than the World Championship. With $3 billion in pipeline capital, the festival is a talent-acquisition strategy, not an event.
The engine room determines the guest room. The linen flow determines the guest satisfaction. Here is everything experienced thermal designers, architects, and operators know about bathhouse development that first-time operators learn the expensive way.
The Global Wellness Institute now projects wellness real estate will reach $1.8 trillion by 2030, up from $876 billion in 2025. GWI’s release does not break out thermal’s share, but the operator data already points to billions in addressable demand for sauna and contrast therapy.
Auroom Wellness launches the Duetto Infrared Set, Finnish-made 900W panels that retrofit onto any existing Auroom sauna to create dual-mode rooms. The product is EU-only for now, with no confirmed North American voltage variant or UL listing.
Saunum pulls the Air 10 from its North American lineup, leaving the Air heater at 5kW and 7kW only. For large-room buyers, the Air L picks up where the Air 10 left off, with a lower rock basket that improves air-blending performance.
Portal° Thermaculture started behind a Boulder brewery, burned down, reopened in Denver six weeks later, and built its first real brick-and-mortar in a former Minneapolis Jiffy Lube cooled by a chiller designed for penguin tanks. Five metros, no disclosed investors, and a founder who says people need “a dive bar that doesn’t serve alcohol.”
Bathhouse opens its third New York City location, Bathhouse Atlantic Avenue, on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 540 Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, two blocks west of Barclays Center. The build-out features five heat experiences anchored by a 100-plus-seat event sauna built for Aufguss programming, three thermal pools, a wood-fired Banya, an Infrared Sauna, and a Steam Room, with day passes starting at $29.
Othership charges CAD $58 per session and packs 70 people into guided breathwork classes. AIRE Ancient Baths charges CAD $205 and caps its Toronto location at a fraction of that. One has raised $18.5 million in venture capital. The other generated €69.4 million in revenue at a 36% EBITDA margin. They are ten minutes apart. Both models work. Both can fail. The failure modes are almost entirely non-overlapping.
Alisa Cardenas runs Howl at the Moon Sauna Co. out of a converted 1989 horse trailer in West Michigan, and this November she is taking ten guests to a lakefront lodge in southern Iceland for six days of lagoons, wild bathing in Reykjadalur and Þórsmörk, the Icelandic sauna ritual called gúsa, and a mobile-saunagus session at the lodge. Meals, lodging, transport from Keflavík, and every bathing experience are included. Cardenas built Howl at the Moon around the Wildflower, a 1989 horse trailer converted into a mobile sauna with a Finnish-made Iki wood-burning stove and more than 350 pounds of sauna stones. Cedar Grove Sauna in Maine has been doing a related version of this from the other direction, bringing Lithuanian Bath Masters to Popham Beach for their first-ever North American training in 2023. It is the kind of trip more sauna operators with a community at home should be thinking about.
Leil Saunas has jumped from 35-plus to 45-plus distribution countries in roughly twelve months while building a second production facility. New partner Suuda Sauna anchors the Italian and Spanish channel with pricing that starts below €7,000.
Tulikivi’s Q1 2026 interim report disclosed UL certification tests on the Kevo heater collection for US launch and confirmed the Russia exit that clears a conditional Saunologia editorial partnership. The dual move reveals a coordinated credibility play across the Atlantic.
Aufguss USA Nationals 2026 returns to Brooklyn May 19–21 with an expanded three-day format, doubled WM qualification slots, and the largest event sauna in the country. The infrastructure behind the competition tells you where American sauna culture is headed.
Harvia shares surged nearly 15% on the Helsinki exchange on May 7 after the Finnish sauna manufacturer reported its highest-ever quarterly revenue: EUR 58.6 million in Q1 2026, up 12.7% year-over-year. At constant exchange rates, the growth was 18.3%. Three of four regions delivered double-digit gains, with North America up 21.1% in local currencies on top of 58.8% growth a year earlier. But beneath the headline numbers sits a Muurame IT cutover that will shift EUR 3-5 million from Q2 into Q3.
Bathhouse has raised $35 million from Imaginary Ventures to expand from two New York locations to 10 U.S. cities, anchored by an 85,000-square-foot LA flagship at the former Amoeba Music building on Sunset Boulevard.
EOS Saunatechnik will introduce the Morpheus Pro in a May 21 webinar. The commercial heater does not appear on the company’s product catalog or 2026 new-products page, making the session the earliest look at Harvia’s German subsidiary’s hardware pipeline.
WELLSurvey 2.0 found that 71% of wellness consumers trust 'clinically proven' above all other claims. The sauna industry has genuine science on its side, but its marketing often stretches beyond what that science supports. Here is what the data actually says, what it does not, and why the gap matters.
When a designer at Patricia Urquiola’s level agrees to rethink the sauna, the industry should pay attention. Effe’s Baluar system is modular, enclosed in ribbed linden wood, and designed to be specified by architects. The sauna just entered a different conversation.
Alzheimer’s is the most feared disease among Americans over 65, ahead of cancer. A New Jersey high school student founded Sauna for Seniors and published a cost-benefit model for deploying saunas in 39 senior facilities. The paper’s economics need adjustment for commercial reality, but the concept taps into a demand signal the sauna industry has missed: families choosing facilities based on brain-health amenities, operators seeing higher occupancy from wellness investments, and residents staying longer in independent living.
The Thermory Design Awards are accepting submissions for 2026, with winners featured in Dezeen. The sauna and wellness category has produced a different winner every year since 2022, from a mobile sauna on wheels to the Baltimore Ravens's performance center. If you build with Thermory wood, your project is eligible.
Estonian cabin sauna manufacturer Leil Saunas (formerly Saunasell) held a topping-out ceremony at a new production facility in Võnnu, Tartu County, on April 17, 2026. The company produces more than 250 saunas per month from a 95,200-square-foot campus and distributes to 35+ countries. Completion is expected by July 2026.
Alexander Stubb's Davos sauna line was easy to treat as a Nordic joke. It reads differently after three public uses in six months. Finland's president has reached for the same Finnish-calm formula whenever the questions get hard, and the country behind the metaphor is making hard-security arguments and turning them into memoranda, contracts, and shipyard work.
Japan’s sento operators are trapped between fuel costs that have risen as much as 50 percent and government-regulated admission prices that cannot rise to match. A Teikoku Databank survey quantifies the damage, and the structural lesson applies well beyond Japan.
Studios are selling hot-then-cold as if the synergy were settled science. A new Springer Nature narrative review by Wafa Douzi, Erich Hohenauer, and Benoit Dugué says the direct comparative trials don't yet exist, and some claims in current contrast-therapy marketing are not yet supported by the evidence. The Finnish version of the practice, by contrast, has been running on population timescales for centuries.
As Submersive moves from concept to permits, Austin's planned flagship now has a defined location, an active filing trail, and a clearer path toward a mid-2027 opening target.
After World Sauna Forum 2026 in Jyväskylä, Saunologia is running a half-day Helsinki workshop for designers, builders, operators, and consultants who need Finnish sauna principles they can apply to real projects.
From California and Utah to Illinois and Washington, cold-plunge policy is splitting into multiple models that can materially change design, staffing, operating costs, and expansion risk for sauna operators.
The dreams of wellness entrepreneurs are bigger than the capabilities of most sauna builders. Factory-engineered modular systems are closing the gap, giving any commercial GC in America the tools to deliver a world-class sauna in 2 to 5 days.
Harvia's public support trail suggests a phased Xenio WiFi transition toward Fenix. The commercial tension is clear: Xenio WiFi configurations could include remote control with no extra purchase, while Fenix remote start is gated behind MyHarvia Control unless included in the package.
Icetubs is entering the U.S. market on April 23, 2026 with immersion products designed for both residential and commercial recovery environments. The launch highlights temperature control from 37°F to 100°F, app-based controls, and a broader roadmap for professional-grade systems.
World Spa’s model is a scale-and-circuit play: more thermal room types, longer dwell time, and a broad operating stack that combines bathing traditions, F&B, events, and private rentals. Co-founder Leonid Khanin frames the project as translational authenticity—rooted in source traditions, but deliberately designed for first-time urban guests and repeat local use.
Bathhouse, Othership, and Sant Roch have moved Aufguss from European ritual to commercial asset class, and Galgorm's public £10,000-a-month number is the cleanest reference case in the category. Back into the math and utilization is only about 18.5% of theoretical capacity. The real investment thesis is a one-to-thirty labor ratio, not revenue per square foot. For US resorts and hospitality groups, the deciding variables are Sauna Master pay, commercial heater draw, insurance liability, and an honest demand curve, not the headline revenue.
Sant Roch, the new two-level premium contrast club in Paris's first arrondissement, logged 4,500 paid visits, 100-plus memberships, and guided rituals booked a week out in its first 30 days. Divide those visits into the operating grid and Sant Roch appears to be capping inventory at roughly 17 seats per start, or about half the hot room's widely reported 35-seat physical capacity. For U.S. hospitality investors and sauna operators watching the premium social sauna category, that restraint is the real reference case.
Othership's programming across Toronto and New York—Lovership singles socials, Comedy Night, DJ Takeovers, Shabbat sessions, and more—illustrates the rise of 'reverse nightlife': alcohol-free, state-shifting social rituals competing directly with bars and clubs for evening demand.
Idaho Parks is seeking a private partner to develop, manage, and maintain a sauna and cold plunge concession at Ponderosa State Park on Payette Lake. A parallel proposal from Idaho Mountain Saunas of Caldwell is in front of the McCall city council. Utah's Willard Bay State Park is the working reference case. If Ponderosa lands a qualified bidder, state parks may become the next real growth frontier for the U.S. sauna industry.
CEN approved EN 18164:2026 in January, national adoption runs through August, and Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Estonia, Iceland, Austria, and the Netherlands have already published their editions. The standard defines four public room classes and a sharper sauna-room envelope (176 to 221 degrees F, relative humidity under 10 percent, at least 65 percent wood coverage). Nordic experts argue the text codifies a Central European idea of sauna that much of the living tradition sits outside of.
Sauna360's recall of Tylö Halmstad and Kiruna Hybrid sauna rooms covers about 1,000 U.S. units sold over roughly six months in late 2024. Working backward from the CPSC notice and Tylo's own dated manuals, the affected launch cohort appears to have been in market by early Q4 2024 at the latest.
North Conway has been named America's best ski town five times. It now has a communal sauna to match: two wood-fired rooms running a Harvia 50, three cold plunges, a Nordic cafe, and a Faraday cage that kills your phone signal. Walk-in only, $36, no reservations.
Harvia's 2026 Annual General Meeting in Helsinki on 15 April approved a total dividend of EUR 0.77 per share (paid in two installments), re-elected six directors, added Martin Richter as a new board member, and authorized a share buyback of up to 934,711 shares and a share issuance of up to 1,869,423 shares, both valid until 30 June 2027.
Homecraft is rolling out the Apex Mini, a floor-standing compact tower heater in 6 kW, 7.5 kW, and 9 kW variants, built for sauna rooms in the 200 to 450 cubic foot range. The pitch is deliberate: keep the stone mass of a serious pillar heater while shortening the tower enough that builders can actually get bench geometry right.
Founded in 2019 in Asheville, NC, Sauna House has quietly assembled one of the more credible franchise systems in thermal wellness — complete with a proprietary sauna factory, a no-phone rule, dual 12-kilowatt commercial heaters, and a pipeline that now stretches from Charlotte to Austin.
A new peer-reviewed study published in Temperature (Taylor & Francis) finds that a single 30-minute traditional sauna session at 163°F significantly raises white blood cell counts, with some immune cell populations staying elevated 30 minutes after the heat ends. The cytokine data, including correlations with interferon activity, points toward a biological mechanism for sauna's long-documented benefits against infection and respiratory disease.
Costco is currently the place where most Americans form their first opinion about what sauna is. Between infrared heat cabinets that cannot throw water and cedar barrels where the bench geometry guarantees cold feet, the dominant gateway products are teaching that lesson wrong.
CPSC Recall #26-040, U.S. customs bill-of-lading data, and a 2022 magazine interview with Sauna360 executives all confirm the same thing: the Cokato, Minnesota company behind Finnleo, Tylö, Helo, Kastor, and Amerec manufactures most of its sauna room products in China. Its consumer marketing says nothing about it.
On June 27, 2025, Underwriters Laboratories published ANSI/UL 60335-2-53, the first U.S. adoption of the international sauna heater safety standard. It is the most significant regulatory shift in North American sauna history. Here is what it changes, what it doesn't, and why your building inspector might not care yet.
Saunum has brought its Air Perfect heater to the US market. The unit combines the company's patented air mixing technology with a self-contained climate equalizer, eliminating the need for a separate external device. Prices start at $4,770.
New peer-reviewed research in Social Science and Medicine finds that shared sauna rituals produce measurable improvements in emotional wellbeing, driven by social belonging and ritual synchrony. The study of 1,907 participants is the first experimental examination of British sauna culture.
HUUM's Core electric sauna heater has arrived in the US. Its defining trick: a modular exterior that accepts custom wood panels in alder, aspen, or thermo-aspen, so the heater blends seamlessly into the sauna architecture rather than sitting in front of it.
ProSaunas has expanded its prehung Douglas Fir sauna door line with a new 26" x 72" option, the first size under 80 inches in the insulated glass range. At $1,266.50, it is also the most affordable entry point in the lineup.
Research led by Professor Jari Laukkanen at the University of Eastern Finland has found that regular sauna bathers show lower levels of C-reactive protein (an inflammation marker) and fewer flu symptoms than non-sauna-goers. The findings add to a growing body of evidence linking sauna use to improved immune response.
In a recent webinar, Lassi Liikkanen of Saunologia.fi broke down the essential design principles of Finnish sauna construction and the most common mistakes he sees in projects outside Finland. High benches, proper heater sizing, and ventilation are where most builds go wrong.
The World Sauna Forum 2026 will take place June 9-11 in Jyvaskyla, Finland, with the surrounding Sauna Region Week running June 6-14. The event, organized by Sauna from Finland, brings together manufacturers, designers, researchers, and operators for three days of talks, networking, and authentic Finnish sauna experiences.
Homecraft, Canada's oldest sauna heater maker (Surrey, BC, since 1988), has released the TKE2-2 WiFi controller for its C- and H-Series electric heaters. The WiFi-enabled touchpad brings app-based remote control and scheduling to a heater line that serves a large share of North American residential installations.
KOS Sauna, a floating sauna on Saratoga Lake in Upstate New York, is booked weeks in advance. Founder Kate Butchart built the concept after years of experiencing Nordic floating saunas in Oslo, working with Norwegian architect Bjornar Skaar Haveland to get the details right.
With China tariffs at 145% and a 15% surcharge on European imports, we mapped which sauna brands carry the most tariff exposure. Sauna360, whose Finnleo-branded prefab kits are primarily manufactured in China, faces the steepest cost pressure of any major brand.
Saunum's latest Leil update improves daily control usability with locked-screen fan access, more stable AutoLeil behavior, and tighter handling of airflow and humidity settings.
The Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources v. Trump invalidated IEEPA-based tariffs, but the replacement Section 122 surcharge (set at 10%, then raised to 15%) means European sauna manufacturers and their U.S. importers are still navigating a higher-cost environment.
Finnish heater manufacturers are gearing up for 2026 with a mix of technology upgrades and traditional design refinements. Mondex is refreshing its popular Teno and Kalla heater lines with improved heating speed and energy efficiency, while Narvi doubles down on its heritage approach to loyly quality.
Sauna from Finland, the industry association with 250+ member companies, has named PoolBiz.eu as its exclusive B2B communication and activation partner for European markets. The alliance, effective February 1, 2026, aims to strengthen Finnish sauna brands' presence among European spa operators and installers.
Hukka Design, the Finnish soapstone sauna products company based in Tuupovaara, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026. The company exports 70% of its production, with particularly strong demand in Japan, and has released a limited commemorative edition of its iconic Loylynhenki steam fountain.
Harvia closed 2025 with full-year revenue of EUR 198.9 million, just short of the EUR 200 million threshold but up 13.5% year over year (16.0% at comparable exchange rates). Q4 revenue reached EUR 53.7 million, a fresh quarterly record. Adjusted operating margin of 19.6% held near Harvia's 20% long-term target. Proposed total dividend of EUR 0.77 per share.
Harvia's Q3 2025 interim report showed revenue of EUR 46.0 million, up 18.8% year-over-year (22.3% at comparable FX), with all regions contributing. North America rebounded to 24% growth, Northern Europe returned to double-digit growth, and APAC continued its multi-year run. Adjusted operating profit of EUR 8.8 million reflected 19.1% margin.
Announced alongside Harvia's Q3 2025 earnings on 6 November 2025, the ThermaSol Solaris is a fully off-grid solar-powered outdoor sauna that operates without a power connection. TIME Magazine named it one of the year's best inventions, a meaningful marketing win for Harvia's year-old ThermaSol acquisition and the first time any sauna product has landed on the TIME list.
ThermaSol introduced a refreshed North American sauna collection in Q3 2025: Astra, Fortis, and Ombra. The launch expands ThermaSol beyond its legacy steam shower and steam generator business into Harvia's core traditional sauna category, leveraging Harvia Group engineering and the ThermaTouch digital platform. Harvia confirmed the collection as part of its Q3 2025 results presentation on 6 November 2025.
Harvia's digital platform got its biggest upgrade in years at Q3 2025: a new Fenix full-touch controller with a 4.3-inch screen, three ready-made presets (Mild, Cozy, Hot), customizable user profiles, smart "ready-by" timer, and Wi-Fi over-the-air updates. A rebuilt MyHarvia 2 app adds personal sauna statistics, user profiles, tips, and multi-sauna control from a single interface.
The Aufguss World Championships, the global competition for the choreographed towel-waving German sauna ritual, returned in 2025 in Verona, Italy. Harvia Group sponsored the event, and the competition sauna was powered by an EOS heater. The sponsorship is part of Harvia's broader marketing push to build sauna culture beyond Finland and Germany, aligning the Harvia and EOS master brands with the growing global Aufguss community.
Harvia announced in its Q3 2025 results that Nathan Hagemeier was appointed Head of Region, North America and President of Harvia US Inc., joining the Harvia Group management team as of 1 November 2025. Jennifer Thayer had held the role since February 2024 and led the company through the ThermaSol acquisition, US integration, and record North American growth in the first three quarters of 2025.
Harvia's half-year financial review for January-June 2025 showed 16.0% total revenue growth at comparable exchange rates, with North America growing 35.1% on ThermaSol contribution and APAC & MEA growing 35.8%. Organic growth was 2.4%. Adjusted operating margin of 20.2% held within the long-term target band.
Nordic softwood prices have been trending higher, driven by strong export demand from Asia and sustainability-driven forest management policies under Finland's revised National Forest Strategy 2035.
This week: Harvia's record Q1, shifting U.S. tariffs on European imports, outdoor sauna demand data, HUUM's heater upgrade, and Equinox's thermal wellness expansion.
Harvia's first-quarter revenue surged 22.7% to EUR 52 million, driven by strong contributions from its ThermaSol steam acquisition and continued growth in both North American and European commercial markets.
New and expanded U.S. tariffs on EU goods and timber imports are squeezing the sauna industry. With Finnish and Estonian manufacturers supplying the majority of premium heaters and thermally modified wood sold in the U.S., importers are recalculating their pricing models.
Luxury hotel groups are treating thermal bathing not as a spa add-on but as a primary draw. Aman, Four Seasons, and Mandarin Oriental have all announced significant thermal wellness investments across their upcoming properties, signaling a shift in how the industry thinks about sauna and heat-based experiences.
Outdoor sauna installations are outpacing indoor builds across North America, driven by post-pandemic outdoor living investment, social media visibility, and increasingly accessible price points. Barrel saunas lead the category, but custom outdoor builds and modular designs are gaining ground.
The landmark Kuopio study found that men who used a sauna 4-7 times weekly had a 40% lower risk of all-cause mortality. With the global sauna equipment market estimated at $905 million in 2024 and growing at 6.3% CAGR, the category offers a rare combination of proven health data and scalable business models.
Harvia closed 2024 with record Q4 revenue of EUR 51.0 million, up 29.3% year-over-year, and full-year revenue of EUR 175.2 million. ThermaSol, acquired in late July 2024, contributed meaningfully to North American growth. Adjusted operating margin of 19.3% hit Harvia's long-term target band.
Dundalk Leisurecraft is aggressively expanding its international dealer network, adding Australia and Brazil to its existing presence across North America and Europe.
The global cold plunge tub market hit an estimated $380 million in 2025, with brands like Plunge crossing $100M in revenue. But the bigger story is what cold plunge adoption does for the sauna market: it's creating new sauna buyers, not stealing them.
A new generation of sauna designers is drawing deeply from Japanese onsen and sento traditions, bringing concepts of wabi-sabi, natural materials, and ritualistic sequencing into Western thermal wellness spaces.
Harvia's Q3 2024 interim report, published 7 November 2024, showed revenue of EUR 38.7 million, up 14.0% year-over-year (7.9% organic), with the first two months of consolidated ThermaSol revenue. Adjusted operating profit of EUR 8.9 million represented a 22.9% margin. Nine-month revenue reached EUR 124.3 million.
The global sauna equipment market, estimated at $905 million in 2024 by Grand View Research and projected to reach $1.56 billion by 2033, is large enough for both categories to thrive. Consumer data, clinical research, and channel dynamics paint a nuanced picture.
Harvia's H1 2024 half-year review, published 2 August 2024, reported Q2 revenue of EUR 43.2 million, up 20.7% year-over-year (20.1% organic). H1 revenue of EUR 85.5 million was up 10.9%, with adjusted operating margin of 22.8%. All four regions grew in H1 for the first time in two years. Twenty-one days before the print, Harvia had announced the USD 30.4 million ThermaSol acquisition.
Harvia Plc announced on 23 July 2024 that it had signed an agreement to acquire 100% of ThermaSol, a Round Rock, Texas manufacturer of residential steam showers, generators, and digital controls, for USD 30.4 million. The deal strengthens Harvia's US platform and adds a steam category where Harvia has been underweight.
Bathhouse, the New York-based social wellness club, told CNBC it expects to reach approximately $120 million in run-rate revenue by the end of 2026, a milestone that validates the urban sauna social club as a serious business category.
Harvia operates five core production facilities across four continents: Muurame (Finland), Lewisburg (West Virginia), Gheorgheni (Romania), Guangzhou (China), and Driedorf (Germany). Each plant has a specialty. Together they handle over 150,000 heaters per year and more than 10,000 saunas per year for a business doing nearly EUR 200 million in annual revenue.
Harvia hosted its first Capital Markets Day as a public company on 29 May 2024, walking investors through every layer of the business: factory capacity, regional mix, product strategy, brand architecture, and updated long-term targets. The headline: a 10% average annual revenue growth target, double the prior 5% guide, backed by a EUR 150M+ acquisition war chest and a commitment to consolidate the fragmented global sauna market.
Equinox is investing heavily in upgraded sauna and cold plunge facilities across its highest-revenue clubs, signaling a serious bet on thermal wellness as a competitive differentiator in the premium fitness segment.
Harvia's Q1 2024 interim report, published on 3 May 2024, showed revenue of EUR 42.4 million, up 2.3%, with an adjusted operating margin of 23.8%. North America and APAC continued to drive growth; Northern Europe remained weak. Finnish industrial action during the quarter pushed some shipments into Q2, muting the headline growth number relative to underlying demand.
HUUM has standardized its internal air tunnel technology across the full HIVE heater line, a quiet but significant engineering upgrade. The air tunnel improves airflow through the stone chamber, reduces heat-up time, and shields heating elements from direct stone contact, extending their lifespan.
Harvia closed FY 2023 with revenue of EUR 150.5 million, down 12.7%, as the destocking cycle that began in mid-2022 persisted through most of the year. But Q4 2023 marked the inflection: revenue grew 3.4% year-over-year to EUR 39.4 million at a record 24.2% adjusted operating margin. Cash flow was exceptional, with EUR 44.6 million of operating free cash flow for the year.
Harvia announced on 26 September 2023 that it had acquired 100% of Phoenix El-Mec srl, an electromechanical timer switch manufacturer in Belluno, Italy. Phoenix had been Harvia's supplier since 2013. Deal terms were not disclosed. The acquisition adds vertical integration in a category that had become a supply chain bottleneck through COVID.
Harvia reported FY 2022 revenue of EUR 172.4 million on 9 February 2023, down 3.7% from the EUR 179.1 million pandemic peak in 2021. Management framed the year as a reset, with North America and APAC still growing while Central Europe faced the brunt of destocking and weak consumer confidence. Adjusted operating margin held at 19.7%.
Harvia expanded beyond sauna with the May 2021 acquisition of Kirami, a Forssa, Finland manufacturer of wood-fired and electric hot tubs. The deal closed at EUR 7 million with an earnout of up to EUR 4 million. The stock hit an all-time high on the news.
Harvia announced a majority acquisition of EOS Group, the German premium sauna heater and spa-controls manufacturer based in Driedorf. The deal, consideration undisclosed at signing, moves Harvia decisively into the commercial and ultra-premium residential segment and brings Germany into the Harvia manufacturing map.
Harvia, three months after its Nasdaq Helsinki IPO, announced the acquisition of Almost Heaven Saunas, a Renick, West Virginia barrel sauna manufacturer. The deal, valued at approximately EUR 4 million, gives Harvia a US factory, a consumer brand, and the distribution reach to accelerate its North American strategy.
Harvia Plc began trading on the Helsinki pre-list on 22 March 2018 at EUR 5.00 per share, after an oversubscribed offering that raised approximately EUR 45 million in gross proceeds. CapMan-backed Harvia became the only publicly traded pure-play sauna manufacturer in the world.
A concise weekly briefing on sauna launches, deals, openings, standards, and market shifts.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.