Feelgoodz NC Made | Garner-based firm builds world connections utilizing sustainable merchandise after proprietor broke a flip-flop

GARNER, N.C. (WTVD) — ABC11 is highlighting individuals and merchandise which are North Carolina-made, with the highlight on Garner-based firm Feelgoodz.

Feelgoodz is a travel-inspired life-style model that makes sustainable footwear, Turkish towels, and residential equipment. Founder Kyle Berner launched the corporate in 2008 after an opportunity encounter with a rubber tree farming household in Thailand.

While backpacking in Thailand, Berner’s flip-flops broke. He purchased a pair at an area market, calling them probably the most comfy he’d ever worn. Fascinated to be taught they had been comprised of pure rubber sourced from the nation’s southern farms, he visited a plantation, grew to become quick buddies with the household, and shortly after began Feelgoodz.

The firm now companions with world artisans and farmers to provide eco-friendly merchandise utilizing pure supplies. Based in Garner with 17 staff, Berner stated the Triangle has been key to its progress.

“What has been interesting is in the Triangle area, there’s a ton of resources,” Berner stated. “It’s been really interesting to find really good talent, a really good team of people with a diverse skill set. Any resources that we feel we need, we feel like we have access to because of the infrastructure that’s been built here.”

Feelgoodz helps lots of of rural farmers and artisans worldwide, utilizing pure rubber, recycled rice husks, and different supplies to provide objects like vegan leather-based sandals and pure rubber flip-flops.

The firm not too long ago expanded with a luxurious hospitality assortment, designing spa slides and in-room slippers for five-star resorts.

“We are getting into the hospitality industry, working with resorts,” Berner stated. “We’re developing a whole collection of spa slides and in-room slippers and really trying to tackle a lot of the issues that exist in that world.”

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