Canned air, now that’s a revelation that should pique the interest of many people, not only in China but Delhi, India and the capital of Iran. And this is where a unique start-up company, Vitality Air, based in Alberta, Canada comes into the picture.
I telephoned the founder of Vitality Air, Moses Lam, on Saturday to find out more about his company and was pleasantly surprised to discover there is much more to this Vitality Air than the joke it originally started out to be, because Vitality Air is for real.
In 2013, Lam and his friend, Troy Paquette, wanted to see if they could sell a bag of air on eBay, and the bag actually sold for 99 cents. When the second bag sold for $160, Lam said they realized there really was a market out there.
Digital Journal asked Lam if the smog situation in China had ever entered into the picture when the two friends decided to start the company. “No, we just wanted the company to be disruptive, and fun,” said Lam. With Lam’s experience in the business world and with Paquette being a former commercial diver and Journeyman Red Seal Welder, they began their journey into the world of e-commerce.
Officially launched in 2014, Vitality Air, whose motto is “Enhancing Vitality – One Breath At A Time,” started bottling the fresh, clean air of the Rocky Mountain resort town of Banff. They also took on another partner in the new business, Roland Hung.
At first, the air and oxygen customers were from North America, India, and the Middle East, but after opening up sales in China about two months ago, that country has become their biggest international market. Many customers have been buying bottles of Vitality Air on Taobao, China’s equivalent to eBay.
Lam told Digital Journal the air and oxygen containers are made of aluminum and hold approximately 150 to 200 breaths of air. DJ asked how the air was administered, and Lam said the container comes with a built-in mask. The bottled air is not for continuous use as seen in oxygen therapy, but is intended to be used a few breaths at a time.
Moses explained it was sort of like “taking a breath of fresh air” three times a day. He likened it to the need for humans to drink eight glasses of water a day, so taking several breaths of fresh, clean air is also vital. Customers may not know this, but Vitality Air’s bottles of vitality are filled by hand, making the product very labor-intensive.
Lam also told DJ they have two sites where the air is collected, Banff, and Lake Louise. At both sites, the fresh, clean air of the Rocky Mountains is captured over days, using a patented filtration process and then shipped out to users around the world.
We also talked about environmental issues, and of course, the growing smog situation in China and other areas in the world. When asked if the environment had ever been a reason for starting the company, Moses was honest and said no, not at first. But Lam has always been concerned about environmental issues, and because of this, Vitality Air is working on opening an environmental department as part of the business framework because the environment is “super-important.”
Lam said that several innovations are in the development stage, including making the aluminum canisters refillable and returnable, similar to what Soda Stream does with empty carbonator canisters. In other words, empty air canisters could be returned and exchanged for the price of a refill of air only.
One added item of interest is the bottling of air from Australia and New Zealand. Moses said this has been tossed around in conversation as a specialty product that might be interesting to some folks.
Vitality Air sells both quality fresh air collected in Banff, and at Lake Louise, and 97 percent pure premium oxygen. The air comes in 3 liter and 7.7 liter canisters, and the oxygen comes in 10 liter bottles. For a list of retailers in Canada, China and the U.S.: Go HERE.
