Meet Holden Bierman, 19, who turned $500 loan into six-figure beachwear business

Holden Bierman, an American teenager, built a swimwear brand at age 12 with a $500 loan from his parents. Started during the Covid-19 pandemic as a small clothing business, it has since grown into Coastal Cool, a sustainable beachwear company that says its products have helped fund efforts to remove plastic equivalent to more than 100,000 bottles from the ocean.The 19-year-old entrepreneur from Holly Springs, North Carolina, started by selling T-shirts and hoodies before shifting to swimwear made from recycled materials. Bierman launched his first business during the early days of the pandemic, when school closures left him looking for ways to spend his time.“I was just bored,” Bierman told Good Morning America. “Everybody was at home inside, nobody was outside, school was out. So I just started [to] research business ideas.”His interest soon developed into a business.