Karma8a Makes US Retail Debut With Movement Climbing

Movement Climbing, Yoga and Fitness has partnered with European brand Karma8a to sell its design-driven climbing apparel and lifestyle accessories at two of its indoor gyms in New York: Movement Gowanus (Brooklyn) and Movement LIC (Long Island City, Queens).

Movement will promote the rollout with a localized campaign spotlighting community climbers in Karma8a gear across digital and social platforms. For Karma8a, the collaboration marks its U.S. retail debut, expanding access for climbers who previously could only purchase the brand’s pieces online or in limited international locations.

In May, Movement opened its fifth Bay Area location in Mountain View, California, a 24,000-square-foot facility with bouldering terrain, a yoga studio, full strength and cardio offerings and a dedicated gear shop, offering a third space for its members.

Movement CEO Anne-Worley Moelter, who returned to the company in 2024 after co-founding its first location in Boulder in 2009, has emphasized that Movement’s growth strategy centers on community building rather than franchising.

“The camaraderie that one feels in a climbing and fitness facility is so markedly different from any other type of exercise or sport that I have ever come across that it becomes so encouraging to climb,” Moelter told Athletech News in an interview earlier this year. “One of the beautiful things is that there are so many different ways to approach it that people of all different skill levels can engage in it together.”

She also highlighted the mental aspect of climbing, which provides participants with a singular focus.

“Even without meaning to, you have to zero in on what you’re doing,” Moelter says. “I think that that is something that people appreciate in today’s scattered world.”