Young Sydney entrepreneurs Issac and Elias Honor, along with childhood friend Jack Gordon, have created a fashionable, futuristic face mask that allows the wearer to breathe pure ‘Australian air’.

Since the year began air quality has been an issue in Australia, firstly with the terrible bushfires to the onset of COVID-19 and public concern around virus transmission, the mask market has never been more popular.

AusAir have developed filters infused with Australian botanicals that come in a range of scents including Tasman lavender, Sydney eucalyptus and coastal tea tree. Research has revealed essential oils can combat problems caused by air pollution, for example, the AusAir lavender filter naturally reduces stress hormones which have been shown to increase from air toxicity.

AusAir’s founders were inspired during a trip to China in 2017, where they were horrified to learn of the toxic air pollution, and data showing the impact that it could have on people’s health. They were surprised firstly at the lack of people wearing masks, and how impractical the ones worn looked to be. Once back on home soil, they began the initial testing phase of their mask design, seeking something chic as well as functional.

‘The market is dominated by products which focus on pure utility, but we want to allow people to express themselves as well as have a mask that is comfortable and breathable,” said Elias Honor. “Your face is who you are and where most human emotion is expressed and interaction takes place, and so our goal was to create a mask that people actually wanted to wear,” he said.

After initially winning grants and obtaining seed capital, the AusAir team also invested personal resources to fund the mask’s development. The team decided to share their design with the Kickstarter community to raise further funds, where the mask subsequently went viral - the irony not lost on the team that created a product that attempts to stop that very problem.

The project is now being further crowdfunded on Indiegogo and has raised $1.6 million at the time of this article going live. An initial run of 2000 masks was scheduled, but due to Covid-19 the production run has increased to 30,000 because of unprecedented demand. And, the AusAir team are expecting this number to increase even further as soon as the website goes live.

AusAir have continued to win multiple prestigious design and entrepreneur awards (Sydney University’s Innovation week, Genesis NEXT, China Start) with their innovative design and filters, variety of sizes, ergonomic design, memory foam and magic fit ear-loops that create a plush seal around facial contours which is critical to effective virus and disease protection.

The masks surpass P2 and KN95 preliminary testing, which protect users from fine particle matter, with their filters blocking over 97% of PM2.5, which is the highest grading a mask can have. An added carbon layer also adds additional protection against certain organic vapours and odours.

P2 masks are also effective at preventing contagious airborne viruses and diseases, however as NSW Health points out, masks must be fitted to the wearer’s face in order to be effective.

The team is finding international success too - when pitching to JD.com the second biggest e-commerce platform in China, they negotiated a deal to launch AusAir on the site’s crowdfunding platform by mid 2020.

Production is well underway for the mask skins which are manufactured in Japan. The masks will be available for shipping in June 2020, and by preorder on Indiegogo now.