A 16-Year-Old Sold A Cooling Towel. Why Is Profit Still Zero?

Imagine you sold so many towels that one night you earned about 100,000 pounds. Sounds like you're rich, right?

Not so fast.

Harrison Nott, a 16-year-old from Maldon in Essex, England, runs a company called CoolTowel. Business Today reports that it brings in more than 750,000 pounds a year. And yet, the same report says the business hasn't made a profit yet.

How can a business sell that much and still not make money? Grab a snack. This is one of the most useful money ideas you'll ever learn.

CoolTowel is a reusable towel that cools you down when it's wet. You soak it, wring it out, and snap it in the air. The cooling effect kicks in as the water evaporates, a bit like how you feel chilly when you step out of a pool.

According to Business Today, Harrison started developing the idea at 13, after he couldn't find a cooling towel he liked on a hot day. In 2023 he launched from his bedroom with 100 towels in a box. They sold out.

That's a pattern worth noticing. He didn't begin with a factory or a big loan. He began with a small batch and a real problem: being too hot.

He sold where his customers already hang out: TikTok. Business Today says about 80,000 sales this year came through TikTok Shop and a Shopify store. Infobae, a Spanish news site, reported in July 2025 that at 15 he filmed himself packing orders in his room and posted the videos on TikTok.

Think about that. People like watching how things get made and packed. It feels real, and it costs almost nothing.

The article says that after one sold-out night, he started taking pre-orders. A pre-order means a customer pays now for something that will ship later. It helps a seller plan how many to make. But it also means customers have to wait, and waiting can make people grumpy.

Let's use a lemonade stand. You sell 20 cups at 2 dollars each. That's 40 dollars of revenue. Revenue is all the money customers pay you.

But you also bought lemons, sugar, cups, and a sign. Say those cost 30 dollars. The profit is what's left after you pay your costs: 40 minus 30 leaves 10 dollars.

Now picture the same stand, except you also paid a friend 8 dollars to shout "Lemonade!" on the corner, and you bought 2 dollars of extra ice. Your costs jump to 40. Profit is zero. The stand looked busy, but you kept nothing.

That's the idea behind CoolTowel's situation. Revenue can be big while profit stays small, or even below zero.

Business Today lists several pressures. There's money spent on ads. There are commissions paid to people who promote the towels, called affiliates. There are stock shortages, which can mean lost sales, and other costs of running things.

Harrison also said that TikTok Shop's handling of pre-orders and copycat sellers who used his face in ads made it harder to take full advantage of summer demand.

Copycats are a lot like another kid setting up a lemonade stand right next to yours and holding a sign with your name. It's annoying, and it can pull customers away.

None of this means the business is bad. Many young companies spend more than they earn while they grow. But it does mean someone has to keep a close eye on the numbers.

Business Today reports that Harrison won the Alibaba.com CoCreate Pitch competition, beating 15,000 entrepreneurs, and received a 150,000 pound prize. It also says former England footballer Rio Ferdinand invested in the business.

A pitch is a short talk where you explain your idea and why it could work. Winning one is like winning a science fair, but with real money and real customers watching.

One thing to know: different news sites give slightly different numbers for his sales, and some mix up currencies. That's common when stories get passed from one outlet to another. When you read a big number, check where it first came from. Business Today says most of its figures come from the Manchester Evening News.

Yes. Here's a thirty-minute activity called "Revenue or Profit?"

Pick any small business idea: bracelets, cookies, dog-walking, cooling towels. Write down the price you'd charge. Then list every cost you can think of, even the small ones: materials, ads, a helper's pay, packaging, your own time if you want to count it.

Now pretend you sell 10 items, then 50, then 100. For each number, work out revenue, then costs, then profit. Do it on paper. When does the profit turn positive? That's called the break-even point, and it's the number every business owner should know.

Add a twist: what if you spent 20 dollars on ads? How many extra sales would you need to cover them?

Start small. Harrison's first batch was 100 towels, not 10,000. A small batch lets you learn without risking much.

Solve a problem you actually have. His started with being too hot. Yours might be a messy backpack, a boring lunch, or a squeaky bike chain.

Ask a trusted grown-up to help with the parts kids can't legally do alone, like opening an online shop or handling payments. And keep a notebook of every cost. Boring? Yes. Powerful? Absolutely.

If you want a place to read more kid friendly business stories between projects, the kids lessons on Foundra are one option. Libraries and school clubs are others.

Winning a pitch contest and getting an investor sounds glamorous, but look at what they really mean. They mean other people saw the idea and decided it was worth backing.

Investors are people who give money to a business in the hope of getting back more later. Rio Ferdinand, as reported, put money into CoolTowel. In return, an investor usually gets a small piece of the company, called a share. If the company grows, the share is worth more. If it doesn't, it may be worth less.

Here's a kid version. Say your friend gives you 5 dollars to start a bracelet business, and in return she gets a quarter of your future profit. You now have a partner, and you owe her honest updates. That's what investors expect too.

It also reminds us that nobody builds a big business alone. Parents, teachers, mentors, and customers all play a part.

Think about a video game. If you never looked at your health bar, you'd lose without knowing why. A business has health bars too: money coming in, money going out, stock left on the shelf, and money owed.

The Business Today story mentions that Harrison sold about 600,000 pounds of stock in one week and about 100,000 pounds in a single night, according to the report. When numbers move that fast, a tiny mistake gets expensive quickly. Order too few towels, and customers go away disappointed. Order too many, and you're stuck with a closet full.

You can practice at home with a simple table. Make four columns: date, what I sold, what I spent, what I have left. Fill it in for a week of any small activity, even trading cards or selling old toys. By Friday, you'll see your own business story in numbers.

Revenue is money coming in. Profit is what's left after costs. A business can be popular and still lose money. Starting with a small batch is smart. Pitching, testing, and tracking your numbers are skills, not tricks. And a big headline number never tells the whole story.

Harrison told Business Today, "This is only the beginning." Maybe so. The next chapter is probably about profit.

Who is Harrison Nott? He's a 16-year-old from Maldon, Essex, who runs CoolTowel, a reusable cooling towel brand he started developing at 13.

How much does CoolTowel sell? Business Today reports more than 750,000 pounds in annual revenue and about 80,000 sales this year. Other outlets report different figures, so treat the numbers as approximate.

Is CoolTowel making a profit? Business Today says it has not made a profit yet, citing advertising spend, affiliate commissions, stock shortages, and other costs.

What is the difference between revenue and profit? Revenue is all the money customers pay. Profit is what remains after you subtract your costs.

What is a pre-order? It's when a customer pays in advance for something that ships later. It helps a seller decide how many items to make.

How can I practice this at home? Pick a small business idea, list all your costs, and calculate revenue and profit for 10, 50, and 100 sales.

1. From bedroom to 750,000 pounds: 16 year old teen skips college, turns towel idea into a lucrative business, Business Today, October 2026
2. 16 year old invents CoolTowel, a fitness towel that stays cold for up to 2 hours, and wins global Alibaba competition, ClickPetroleoeGas, June 2026
3. El adolescente de 15 anos que monto un negocio desde su habitacion, Infobae, July 2025
4. How a Teen Built a 100K Pound Business Before GCSEs, Audible podcast listing