How top wellness brands are showing up at Art Basel Miami

As wealthy international consumers descend upon Miami to view and buy art this week, so have the wellness brands hoping to catch their attention. 

Miami’s annual Art Week kicked off Monday with 20 international art fairs running across the city until Sunday, including Art Basel, ICA Miami and Untitled Art Miami. 

The fairs are populated by more than 1,200 galleries selling all types of art from thousands of artists. Art Basel, the most well-known of the fairs, runs just Friday to Sunday. City-wide attendance and sales estimates are limited, but Art Basel reportedly generated more than half a billion dollars in economic activity in 2024 and more than 75,000 visitors. 

Wellness and fitness brands, especially those with design-focused engineering and priced for wealthy consumers, are using the opportunity to grow brand awareness through a series of pop-ups and festival integrations. 

“There’s a phenomenal convergence that’s happening right now around well-being, longevity, lifestyle and community, [where] fitness and wellness are becoming very experiential,” Curtis Christopherson, chief growth officer and partner at Ammortal, told Glossy. “There’s a lot of alignment [between our customer and the Art Basel visitor], both on the premium side of lifestyle, as well as their desire to progress [their] wellness and well-being and live a longer, better life.” 

Ammortal is in town to demonstrate its first product, the Ammortal Chamber, which Christopherson described as “the ultimate health-stacking chamber, in one immersive experience, wrapped in a meditative journey.” The bed pairs red light therapy, molecular hydrogen, PEMF and breathwork into one futuristic, aesthetic recovery machine that sells for $159,000. 

The company launched in 2023, and Christopherson told Glossy that there are more than 100 beds “in the wild” today. So far, sales have been an even four-way split between private consumers purchasing for home use, professional athletic organizations, high-end longevity centers and luxury hotels groups, like The Proper Hotel, Fairmont and St. Regis, among others. 

Through the latter two, consumers can book a 25- or 50-minute session in most major U.S. cities. When it comes to Art Basel, Christopherson is most interested in growing awareness so consumers patronize clinics and hotels offering the service, although he isn’t counting out high-wealth festivalgoers who may prefer to go home with a big-ticket longevity machine over a piece of comparably-priced art.

To do so, Ammortal is popping up a multi-brand activation called The Wellness Oasis. Sponsored by Chase, the two-day event features activations and panels with wellness thought-leaders, plus a fireside chat with Lindsay Lohan, and a performance by Jonah Marais. Tickets are $195 per day. 

Also found at The Wellness Oasis are Hyperice fitness tech, the at-home diagnostics company bio.me, Armra colostrum supplements, Lululemon workout clothing, Coconut Cult probiotics and the Tonal at-home gym.  

For many luxury brands selling considered purchases, demonstrating their wares in the right setting, to the right customer, is crucial for conversion. 

“[Art Week Miami] is a good intersection for us, where we get good density [of] high-quality visitors,” Darren MacDonald, CEO of Tonal, told Glossy. “’Scene-setting and playing’ is a great market for us, and we think there’s an opportunity to do more here.” 

Tonal is an immersive home gym that is installed onto a home wall for around $4,000, and includes instructor-led classes and free-style resistance training. MacDonald hopes consumers will try the product this week, then return home, order one for their own home and eventually spread the word in their home markets about the machine’s ease of use and efficacy. 

Tonal’s customers are ages 20-70, with the majority of users in their early 40s. “We skew slightly toward a female demographic, in part because of the things we offer,” MacDonald said. “You get resistance training, yoga and an aerobic mode, and we just launched pilates two weeks ago. … It’s a full studio on the wall [of your home].” 

Another home gym company, TechnoGym, is showing up in a different way this week. The company rented a booth at the Design Miami fair to show its Design to Move art collaboration. It includes Technogym workout benches created by internationally acclaimed designers and artists including Michele Bönan and Patricia Urquiola. The brand is also hosting what it calls a “Technogym checkup” activation at the Nobu Hotel, where consumers can have their fitness and biomarkers measured by a trainer to generate a “wellness age,” also called a biological age, plus fitness and wellness recommendations. 

But wellness activations make up only a small portion of the proximity marketing happening this week in Miami. For example, Marc Jacobs partnered with contemporary artists like David Shrigley, Derrick Adams and Hattie Stewart on an event and design activation where guests can customize Converse sneakers and Moleskin notebooks. Meanwhile, Recess, the relaxation beverage, is gifting at nearby coffee shops and pilates studios, while Delta THC beverages are being gifted at HIVE hotel Wynwood’s “art village” that connects artists, brands and consumers. 

Executive moves: 

• Wellness retailer The Vitamin Shoppe has added two new executives to its team. Erica Evans is the new vp of inventory planning, and Monika Grabania has joined as vp of digital marketing. Evans’s CV includes GNC, HSN and Prai Beauty. Grabania’s CV includes L’Oréal Group, Mindshare and Flora Food Group.
  
• Patrick Sly is the new CEO of Metagenics, a 40-year-old supplement brand that sells direct-to-consumer and through Target and Walmart. Previously, he was the CEO of Reckitt, parent company to brands like Lyson and Mucinex. 

News to know:

• Kendall Toole, a former Peloton instructor who has amassed more than a million social media followers, launched an exercise-, nutrition- and mental health-focused app called NKO. The name is short for “never knock out,” an ode to her teaching catchphrase, “They can knock you down, but they will never knock us out.” The app includes on-demand digital fitness classes, recipes and more for around $20 per month. 

• Aquaphor is the newest sponsor of UConn Basketball. Announced last week, the derm-backed skin-care brand will sponsor men’s and women’s basketball at the University of Connecticut for the 2025-2027 seasons. Aquaphor is owned by German multinational conglomerate Beiersdorf AG. 

• Soho House is leaning into wellness to appeal to its wealthy clientele, according to CEO Andrew Carnie. In an interview with The Guardian, Carnie said post-Covid cultural shifts have meant the company’s customers want fewer boozy lunches and more longevity offerings. Some offerings have been tested at the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. Called the “Lazy Lab,” the location offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy, IV infusion drips and longevity-focused diagnostic health testing. “That’s what our members are telling us they want next,” Carnie said.

• U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly lowered the price of its GLP-1 drug Zepbound on Monday. Doses dropped by $50-$100, depending on size, to make monthly supplies as low as $249. “Far too many people who need obesity treatments still face cost and coverage barriers,” Lilly executive Ilya Yuffa told Reuters. Last month, Lilly became the first drugmaker to reach a market value of $1 trillion, according to the publication. 
  
• Health technology company SynchNeuro has taken on $3 million in seed funding to bring a needle-free glucose monitor to market. Unlike glucose monitors available today, which draw blood through tiny needles to check glucose, SynchNeuro uses brain-sensing technology to monitor blood sugar. The round was led by Boomerang Ventures, investor in tech-based health and wellness startups.

Stat of the week:

The gummy supplement market could grow three times over to reach $66.8 billion by 2031, according to a new report from market research company DataM Intelligence. The firm reports that the gummy supplement industry, which includes brands like Lemme, Olly, Bloom and Nature’s Bounty, was valued at $24.3 billion in 2023 and is set to see a 13.6% compound annual growth rate.

In the headlines:

Inside Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, the team hunting fakes across its marketplace [Modern Retail]. Underwater meditation is taking wellness travel to new depths [Vogue]. Rituals opens the Mind Oasis in London, offering wellness treatments for body and soul [WWD]. Moss, a members-only club in NYC, marries culture and wellness [Athletech News]. Shopify breaks down on busy Cyber Monday [Wall Street Journal].

Listen in: 

How did shoppers, brands and retailers approach Black Friday? In this week’s special holiday episode, Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack is joined by Danny Parisi, host of the Glossy Podcast, and Gabi Barkho, host of the Modern Retail podcast, to unpack all things Black Friday

Need a Glossy recap? 

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