June the 3rd, 2021 - Fancy breathing in the beautiful aroma of fresh Adriatic sea air when putting that irritating mask back over your mouth and nose yet again as you enter the shop? Now you can, thanks to one Croatian brand and one 100% Croatian protective mask.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, Salt and checkers is a young Croatian company whose team of enthusiasts and medical experts has designed an innovative product: a mask with the addition of no less than sea salt.
"Breathe the sea air" is a mask produced right here in the Republic of Croatia with the aim for everyone to get ''a taste'' of what it's like to breathe the fresh salty air from the beautiful Croatian Adriatic sea.
"The business idea itself was born six years ago. Encouraged by solving our own health problems and challenges, we designed an innovative product that at that time offered a solution to the problem we were facing. We wanted to make the benefits of breathing salty Adriatic sea air available to everyone.
We're especially proud of the fact that we managed to develop and produce a 100 percent Croatian product. The idea was born out of a personal need when a doctor advised a person close to use to stay by the sea for a long time due to the respiratory problems they were experiencing.
This spurred our research and thought about the impact of breathing in salty air on our health which led us to salt rooms and finally to the idea of creating a “portable salt room,” they explained from the Croatian company Salt and checkers. As they noted, during its development, the product has changed many times, in regard to both faces and technical solutions.
The Breathe Sea Air mask which allows users to breath in fresh Adriatic sea air was launched on the market in early 2021, it contains salt that is woven between the layers in order to better preserve its properties and to make its effects last longer. The mask is four-layered and designed to make inhaling and exhaling easier.
"In this long process, we encountered many closed doors and insurmountable challenges, but we also gradually found a group of broad-minded and persistent people who pushed the boundaries a bit and contributed to today's product being complete and people using it with pleasure.
Of course, the coronavirus pandemic had a massive impact on our business, but our idea arose before the pandemic did and the strategies and goals we set were not dependent on the pandemic itself. Our creative team is working on expanding the range and we expect the release of new products at the beginning of next year. We are in love with pure Croatian salt, so we're announcing that new products will also have this connection too,'' they revealed from Salt and checker.
For now, these ''salty'' masks are available on their webshop and in pharmacies all over Croatia, and the entire production process takes place right here in the country.
''We've established a partnership with the company Sophy from Osijek, which is our exclusive manufacturer. We're especially glad about that because we managed to connect blue and green Croatia. It's a renowned and stable partner who, with high expertise and standards, has shown flexibility and production capacity,'' they pointed out from this Zagreb company.
They note that customers immediately understood the product and what it is about and this gives them more of a spring in their step for further entrepreneurial ventures and ideas.
"The first reactions are extremely positive and we're very happy about that. At this early stage of product introduction, we're really listening to literally every reaction, evaluating everything and using the information obtained to make our product even better. Most products are now sold in Croatia, while a smaller part goes to EU countries.
Part of our expansion plans relate to foreign markets and we put a lot of effort into that. If 2021 was the year of the introduction of the Breathe Sea Air mask on the Croatian market, we hope that 2022 will be the year of foreign markets when we will see the results of today's work and investments,'' they concluded.
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