Despite their cloth masks, the co-founders of Orange Sky Laundry, Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi, are easily recognisable when they arrive for our lunch in the inner city Brisbane suburb of Albion, thanks to their bright orange and white merchandise. Even though it’s the middle of winter, both are wearing shorts.

The former young Australians of the Year are the brains behind Australia’s first mobile laundry service for homeless people, which is delivered using a fleet of bright orange vans. Patchett, 27, and Marchesi, almost 27, have known each other since they attended St Joseph’s College, a private school in Brisbane known as “Terrace” because of its location on Gregory Terrace in Spring Hill.