A minivan with boxes of shirts, hats and stickers pulled away from a small factory in Pennsylvania. Kyle Bhiro, co-founder of FeelGoodColony, said that was the moment he realized the success of his business venture.

FeelGoodColony, a clothing brand that also helps to protect the environment, was started in June of 2017 by Bhiro and his good friend Ben Hurd. As students at PMHS, Bhiro and Hurd were intrigued by the concept of entrepreneurship. Motivated by the desire to create and inspire change in the world, the two started FeelGoodColony.

“We wanted to work, but also leave the world a better place while we were working,” said Bhiro.

The partners picked the Ocean Conservancy, a charity that helps to clean and protect the world’s water, and now donate 10 percent of the company’s profits to the group.

Bhiro and Hurd’s idea, which started as nothing more than a logo and a little spending money, has grown into a very successful business. It first took off in Pelham, where the two sold their new items to classmates, walking into school with boxes in their arms looking for sales.

“We told our friends, everybody, this is what we’re doing, support us,” Bhiro said. “In less than two days, we sold out of 250 shirts, and that was when I realized that we had something that really was going to work.”

Now a licensed limited liability company (LLC), FeelGoodColony has expanded up and down the East Coast. Setting its sights on the college market, FeelGoodColony has partnered with clubs and groups at multiple universities, forming joint colonies with like-minded people.

“We’ll talk to, for example, an environmental science club” at a college, he said. “We go to them and say, ‘Hey, we have aligned interests. You guys can sell FeelGoodColony shirts, and we’ll give you a commission to benefit your organization.'”

Bhiro, fueled by the success of the brand, is already looking to grow as a businessman. “This is the first thing in a long line of ambitious projects that I have,” he said of his own future as an entrepreneur. “I know that I love business. I’m not switching it up and going into the medical field. It’s just not going to happen. This is where my heart is.”

Since the founding of FeelGoodColony, Bhiro has gained an internship at a venture capitalist firm and started his own investment group at Hofstra University.

In the immediate future, FeelGoodColony plans to unveil long sleeved tee-shirts, pullovers and new stickers this fall.