As a storyteller, you will not believe how excited we are to tell the world that a million trees have been planted thanks to two friends that set out with a vision to make an impact. Introducing NIKIN, from Switzerland.
It all started with two childhood friends, Nicholas and Robin, that loved nature since they were kids and had always wanted to do something together. Ironically, despite all the magnificent landscape and abundance of nature in Switzerland, Robin fell in love with the beauty of the trees in Canada. With that inspiration, the logo of NIKIN was born.
NIKIN’s vision was, and still is: Making sustainable clothing affordable to everyone and also to show how it can be done without being bland or boring.
Then the word “TreeWear” was invented. What is TreeWear and the story behind it?
With 5000 Swiss Francs and big dreams to change the world, in 2016 they set out to create a streetwear brand that combined style with function.
The term TreeWear was coined from the popular term streetwear, simply with the additional effect that each product sold causes the planting of a tree. They started working with One Tree Planted, an NGO from the US that’s planting trees where it is needed most.
With the help of Lester and Jeffrey, Robin’s brothers, what started as a side hustle between a team of four selling Treenies (Beanies) and TreeCaps (Caps) in Switzerland, soon turned into a full on business now with 35 employees. They are now ready to take the next step, looking at expanding its reach to the wider European market, and hitting a mark on their millionth tree as we write this article.
“NIKIN makes it easy for every person to do something good for the environment by planting a tree – but it’s not about the single tree but the whole movement in the right direction. We want to motivate people to live a more sustainable lifestyle. We plant tree by tree.”
Nicholas Hänny, CEO & Co-Founder
Asking the team whether they had any proud moments apart from their tree-planting marathon, they shared with us a few of the awards NIKIN had won over the years.
For two years in a row (2019 and 2020), NIKIN had received the Swiss Economic Award, which is the most important prize for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland, awarded by the Swiss Economic Forum, each year they jury award businesses for their outstanding entrepreneurial achievements in various categories.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Apart from being outstanding entrepreneurs, NIKIN is also a company of innovation, tell us more about that.
We are always looking to improve ourselves, especially when it’s about finding better, more sustainable materials. For example, this season we replaced the material Acryl – which we made all our beanies, gloves, headbands and scarfs out of, into Polyana. NIKIN is the first brand to use Polyana with products made in Europe. Even though NIKIN is a sustainable clothing & lifestyle brand we are far from perfect and want to further invest in new and sustainable materials like ECONYL or SEAQUAL, that are made of marine waste and recycled plastic from the ocean.
Finally, we asked the team what they are most looking forward to in being part of the Myth community?
With our concept of helping with the reforestation, we want to inspire as much companies as possible to do so as well. Because the more that are planting trees the merrier.
