"We're in discussions with several -- two of the Fortune 500 companies -- to get masks for their employees," said CopperSAFE CEO Dylan Clark, who is 14 years old and an 8th grader at North Raleigh Christian Academy. "We're still in discussions with them and then several ACC schools are looking to buy them with their logo on it."
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The Clarks said they're on track to sell tens of thousands of masks in their first month and are looking to expand to a total of three manufacturing facilities in North Carolina.
FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
They came up with the idea when they saw people wearing other masks.
"We noticed that a lot of kids were aggravated by the masks because it was pulling on their ears," said Connor Clark, 16, CopperSAFE Chief Marketing Officer, who is a freshman at Cardinal Gibbons High School. "This is very comfortable. It can be worn around the neck. It's very easy to pull up and down."
"We believe that people are still going to be required to wear masks," Dylan Clark said. "With the traditional, surgical-style masks that people are wearing out and about, they're just so uncomfortable."
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The brothers' masks are made of copper.
"Copper is a naturally-occurring antimicrobial," Dylan Clark said. "It's a self-sanitizing material which has the capability to prevent the spread of infectious diseases."
The brothers are juggling online classes with running their own business.
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"We have been staying up late at night," Connor Clark said. "We have been trying to get as much schoolwork done as possible. The time we've put into this - it's really been paying off because we can help our community and help local businesses."
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They said they want to help keep people protected and have set big goals as more people start to get back to work and back to their lives.
"Our goal is to put a CopperSAFE mask around the neck of every single American," Dylan Clark said.
Their masks are on sale on their website for $14.99.
The brothers said a portion of their sales will go to front-line health workers.
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