It all started a week ago on Monday. The lucky chosen members of the Production and Marketing teams, who had landed in sunny Porto the day before, set off for the first factory. The split between two cars wasn't particularly spectacular; just like the offices in Lenzburg, everyone stayed true to their team. Malicious tongues claim that the Product Team kept getting lost. In fact, they arrived late for the first factory: apparently, there are two villages near Porto with the same name, both of which also have a street with the same name. What a start!
[ product-handles list="treebottle-glass-allover-pines, treesocks-standard-single, folded-polylana-r-ripped1, treesweater-basic-unisex, treeglasses-round"]
Day 1: The most diverse producer
First, we visited Pedro outside of Porto. He's one of our largest producers in Portugal. In his sprawling factory on a hill on the edge of the village, he produces TreeShirts, hoodies, sweaters, and pants for us. He impressed us with his open and welcoming manner and the quality of the entire manufacturing process. You can see what the factory looks like from the inside in the video:
Day 2: Testing new yarn on site!
On our second day in Porto, we visited more producers. Our visit to Carlos, who makes our knitwear, was particularly memorable. He's currently testing a new yarn made from recycled jeans for us. Who knows, maybe you'll soon find it incorporated into one of our new collections!
Day 3: Dyeing clothes with coffee and onions
We started the third day cheerfully in the car of the "Lenzburg Knee-Knockers." That's what the Marketing team in Porto called themselves. The Product team, however, couldn't come up with a team name. "Probably too busy to get lost," said Social Media Manager Patrick with a wink. As we do every day, we visited several manufacturers. Among them was a factory that dyes products with organic materials like onions or coffee . NIKIN founder Robin was enthusiastic: "Of course, that's exactly the kind of manufacturer that suits us."
Days 4 and 5: Shoes, hangtags and goodbye, Porto!
The last few days have been all about TreeShoes and hangtags. The latter are the cardboard cards with a barcode that our producers attach to the clothes. They are also manufactured in a small factory near Porto. Our vegan TreeShoes are made just 20 minutes away at another factory. Certain steps in the shoe production are still done by hand, which was great to see!
The conclusion of our visit to Porto: it's worth it! Personal contact creates understanding, simplifies processes, and inspires new designs and methods. Furthermore, we can confidently say that our manufacturers meet our standards and share our values.
