Jewish businessman sets a goal of donating one million masks during the pandemic crisis
H4X ( pronounced “HACKS), a leading Montreal-based street wear and high-quality performance apparel brand for esports athletes and enthusiasts across the globe through its M4SK Army (https://m4skarmy.com) platform, continue to step forward during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and producing washable and reusable face masks made in Canada. Their goal remains to hand out one million masks worldwide.
Prominent Jewish businessman and H4X Chairman Jon Gurman is proud of the fact that the M4SK ARMY has been at the forefront of this campaign from the moment the pandemic hit North America in March. Gurman originallyplanned to produce the masks for competitive gamers. But with the advent of social distancing, H4X is not encouraging such close contact. Gamers associated with H4X, though, will be wearing the masks across the globe.
The M4SK Army, patrolling the city of Montreal in its two army jeeps, have been distributing masks to frontline workers from the very start: hospital and CHSLD staff, bus and taxi drivers and deliverymen.
More than 150,000 masks have been distributed for free thus far, Gurman said he created the M4SK Army brand to respond to the health-care crisis. The company sold masks to Coca-Cola and Burger King in the U.S. and the masks were custom made to match the uniforms of their employees. In Montreal, Franklin Empire purchased masks from Gurman’s company. They also sell at Jean Coutu, Giant Tiger, Walmart and Ardene, among other retailers.
The M4SK Army consumer products are intended to be fashion accessories and conversation pieces as well as protective gear. They are adorned with zebra and leopard prints, or logos with messages like “Canada Strong,” and “If you are reading this, you are too close.”
“Masks are a booming business for us right now,” Gurman said. “I think when I started doing masks, I was one of the first ones to make cloth, washable masks in North America, and if we hadn’t started so early, I’m not sure we would be doing this now.”
With masks now mandatory in Quebec and most other Canadian and American provinces and states, Gurman considers his mission more important than ever. The company has sold roughly three million masks at this point. They also have a line for children and because of the fun designs it will make for a more of an incentive to want to wear them.
Recently, Gurman welcomed St. Laurent Liberal Member of Parliament Emmanuella Lambropoulos (pictured with Gurman) to his head office on GinceStreet, which is in her constituency. They spoke about the importance of masks during this pandemic. German would like to drive one of his jeeps to Parliament Hill and have the Prime Minister endorse his campaign to get to the one million mark.
By Mike Cohen
