vitality air

Sick of Dirty Air, Chinese Begin Importing it from Canada

"Your solution to pollution"

What started out as a joke has attracted serious buyers of air bottled in Canada by people desperate for a breath of fresh air after weeks of unprecedented pollution.

Last week, for the first time ever, Beijing issued a red alert for air pollution, while Shanghai recently announced “emergency measures” of its own after an orange alert was issued for the city. With Chinese consumers left scrambling to protect themselves from the elements, products such as air filters and face masks are in hot demand. But there’s one product even hotter than masks and filters: Canadian bottled air.

vitality air

Called “Vitality Air”, the bottles feature fresh mountain air from Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. A single canister of the company’s “premium oxygen” costs RMB 179 ($28) while a canister of its Banff air costs up to $24.

The first shipment of 500 Vitality Air bottles have already sold out, with another 700 on the way. The company has only been marketing the product in China for two months.

vitality air

Founded by Moses Lam and Troy Paquette in 2014, the company admits that their first sale of a bag full of air on eBay was a joke. However, when a second bag of air sold for $160, the company realized that there was demand for their product.

As Moses Lam of Vitality Air said, “The pollution is certainly a problem and the government is taking aim to sort it, we see it has an issue and we want to give people the opportunity to inject a little bit of fresh air into their daily lives.”

Vitality Air’s China representative Harrison Wang said their customers are mainly affluent Chinese women who buy for their families or give the air away as gifts; senior homes and upscale night clubs have also been quick to buy the product.

“In China fresh air is a luxury, something so precious,” said Wang.

Vitality Air markets itself as “enhancing vitality one breath at a time,” and says it can help with “hangovers, alertness and working out,” as well as being “your solution to pollution”.

Selling fresh air has occurred before in China, most notably by flamboyant billionaire philanthropist Chen Guangbiao, who apparently sold eight million cans of air in 2013.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor