A Calgary company is
bottling air from Banff for people around the world to consume. The company,
Vitality Air, owned by Moses Lam and Troy Paquette began bottling back in
November 2014, and say their product is great for people who do not have access
to fresh air, the way we do in North America.
"I wanted to do
something really cool, something that could help people as well so we decided
to see if we could sell fresh air because countries like India, China and Dubai
(Editor's note: Not a country), they're very heavily polluted and they don't
have the luxury of fresh air," Lam told VICE. "We were like, 'Hey, we
should be the next bottled water and sell some bottled air.'"
The average 7.7 liter
bottle comes filled with either air or oxygen. The bottle itself comes with a
2-in-1 cap that turns into a mask when you open the bottle (unlike the
primitive crack-and-sniff packaging of "Perri-air" from the movie
Spaceballs). During the past three months, Lam says that they have averaged 300
bottles per month in sales. Bottles of air go for about $15 while the oxygen is
closer to $20.
The Banff Air 3 states
that it's "Filled With 3 Liters of Banff Air, Provides Approximately 80
Breaths Of Fresh Banff Air," according to their site. While the Twin Pack
of Premium Oxygen 10 is a "Package of two of our 10L bottles of 97% Pure
Premium Oxygen. Provides Upwards Of 200 Inhalations!"
The two friends first
sold a bag of air to test the market, and found that there was demand for their
product.
"We started
selling one bag on eBay for 99 cents to see if there was any demand. It sold
and then we listed it again. The next time around it sold for $168 US," he
said. It was then that the idea for their company really took off.
In terms of health
benefits, Lam claims it's good for people in countries like India and China to
get some fresh air since some cities are so polluted, also for athletes and
breathing in high altitudes.
"[It's] great for
clubbing, it helps reduce hanovers and stuff like that," Lam also claims.
"The oxygen along with liquids will help you get rehydrated again and help
those blood vessels not shrink as fast, therefore reducing your headaches."
Alternatively, you
could have an oxygen party with all your friends where everyone has to bring
their own oxygen (BYOO).
As of now, the only
testimonial on Vitality Air's site reads "IT TASTE LIKE AIR VERY GOOD
THANK U."
While he told us that
it is both mentally and physically straining being in the elements and
collecting the air, he said that he couldn't explain it all in detail.
"The process is
kind of a trade secret, but it's long and tedious: it takes us about 10 hours
just to capture the air, and then we bring it back to our place here and put it
into these little bottles," he said, claiming that the process yields
around 3,000 bottles. "Machinery-wise it's all very very expensive, so all
our credit cards and lines of credit are maxed out. So there's definitely no
turning back."
The last time they went
out to secretly capture air was before the wildfires began to affect air
quality, said Lam. Before they go to collect air again, they said they would
have to test the air and make sure it is OK to sell.
"Right now, no, I
would not go out there to bottle air to sell it into these cans. For sure not
just because of all the forest fires and everything," he said.
As for the future of
the company, they have plans on expanding and hope to gather air from other
fresh resources around the world, but for now will continue to sell their
homemade products online and in local stores.
From now until November
30, Vitality Air will donate a portion of their sales to help fight BC
Wildfires, through the Red Cross—he just doesn't know how much they will be
donating yet, as it depends on how many sales they make.
It's perhaps a savvy
act of goodwill, especially if any of the western provinces decide they want in
on all that abundant air-money, the same way BC has finally decided to charge
companies for bottling its water. Beware air bottlers, you could be next.
Vice
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