E-commerce giant Zalando announced yesterday that it will start selling affordable masks at its Zalando Fashion Stores beginning this week, in an effort to combat the coronavirus crisis.

These masks will be available for purchase across all of Zalando’s 17 markets and proceeds from these sales will go to support the Humedica charity.

With Governments worldwide urging people to wear masks in public, the resulting influx of demand has given retailers like Europe-based Zalando an opportunity during this bleak time for businesses worldwide.

“The resulting high demand has made masks a rare commodity,” Zalando said yesterday. The online firm also said “Next to keeping employees safe and protecting the company, it is important for [us] to offer solutions during the crisis where [we] can.

Priced at €1 per mask, Zalando revealed that it will be kick-starting the initiative with “a few designs” for now and will gradually increase its assortment by adding more designs over the next few weeks.