05:10Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t been easy to stand out among a sea of white and blue surgical masks. Luckily, the team at German PPE producer SWS Medicare is helping to turn heads - but also up protection against the virus - by mass producing facemasks coated in bronze, silver and gold.
Propelled along by the production line, the eye-catching masks were on display in their hundreds at the SWS factory in Niederbayern, near the German town of Landshut, on Thursday.
While the company has been producing regulation FFP coverings for the past two years, their ionised, metallic masks are relatively new, explains one of the companies three co-founders, Volkan Akoglu.
Akolgu says he and his colleagues had always wanted to make an antibacterial mask where virus particles would be practically destroyed on touching the surface. That’s what led the team to try making masks with a metal ionised coating.
“We started experiments in which we coated masks with bronze, silver and gold,” says Akolgu: “We sent those out for testing and found the metals actually kill viruses and bacteria on the surface.”
Now the company is building up a niche following, selling their gold masks for a cool 24.99 euros a pop. The main target group for the glitzy face coverings are commercial customers who have to wear masks more often than most, but they’ve also garnered interest from private clients who are looking for something special and willing to pay the price.
“At the moment we are selling a lot in Germany,” says Akolgu, “but also abroad in countries like Dubai or something like that, because the gold mask is very much in demand there.”
However, while the face coverings can be used for longer than average FFP ones, he adds that people shouldn’t try to wash them as it may damage the antibacterial coating on the surface.
It's gold! Glittering metallic facemasks boost style AND protection in Germany
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t been easy to stand out among a sea of white and blue surgical masks. Luckily, the team at German PPE producer SWS Medicare is helping to turn heads - but also up protection against the virus - by mass producing facemasks coated in bronze, silver and gold.
Propelled along by the production line, the eye-catching masks were on display in their hundreds at the SWS factory in Niederbayern, near the German town of Landshut, on Thursday.
While the company has been producing regulation FFP coverings for the past two years, their ionised, metallic masks are relatively new, explains one of the companies three co-founders, Volkan Akoglu.
Akolgu says he and his colleagues had always wanted to make an antibacterial mask where virus particles would be practically destroyed on touching the surface. That’s what led the team to try making masks with a metal ionised coating.
“We started experiments in which we coated masks with bronze, silver and gold,” says Akolgu: “We sent those out for testing and found the metals actually kill viruses and bacteria on the surface.”
Now the company is building up a niche following, selling their gold masks for a cool 24.99 euros a pop. The main target group for the glitzy face coverings are commercial customers who have to wear masks more often than most, but they’ve also garnered interest from private clients who are looking for something special and willing to pay the price.
“At the moment we are selling a lot in Germany,” says Akolgu, “but also abroad in countries like Dubai or something like that, because the gold mask is very much in demand there.”
However, while the face coverings can be used for longer than average FFP ones, he adds that people shouldn’t try to wash them as it may damage the antibacterial coating on the surface.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t been easy to stand out among a sea of white and blue surgical masks. Luckily, the team at German PPE producer SWS Medicare is helping to turn heads - but also up protection against the virus - by mass producing facemasks coated in bronze, silver and gold.
Propelled along by the production line, the eye-catching masks were on display in their hundreds at the SWS factory in Niederbayern, near the German town of Landshut, on Thursday.
While the company has been producing regulation FFP coverings for the past two years, their ionised, metallic masks are relatively new, explains one of the companies three co-founders, Volkan Akoglu.
Akolgu says he and his colleagues had always wanted to make an antibacterial mask where virus particles would be practically destroyed on touching the surface. That’s what led the team to try making masks with a metal ionised coating.
“We started experiments in which we coated masks with bronze, silver and gold,” says Akolgu: “We sent those out for testing and found the metals actually kill viruses and bacteria on the surface.”
Now the company is building up a niche following, selling their gold masks for a cool 24.99 euros a pop. The main target group for the glitzy face coverings are commercial customers who have to wear masks more often than most, but they’ve also garnered interest from private clients who are looking for something special and willing to pay the price.
“At the moment we are selling a lot in Germany,” says Akolgu, “but also abroad in countries like Dubai or something like that, because the gold mask is very much in demand there.”
However, while the face coverings can be used for longer than average FFP ones, he adds that people shouldn’t try to wash them as it may damage the antibacterial coating on the surface.