In our three-part blog series, we show you how two childhood friends founded NIKIN with the aim of giving something back to nature. Learn in the second part how Robin involved his entire family in the young company.
Jeffrey, Robin, Lester and Nicholas (from left to right) worked on the NIKIN project alongside their jobs and studies.
In the first part of the blog series, you saw how Nicholas and Robin ordered the first 60 Treeanies and sold them immediately. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of people ordered the hats. No one expected such a rush. The two sometimes worked night shifts until 3 a.m. and returned to their regular jobs in the morning. Accordingly, they urgently needed active support. Robin quickly involved his entire family in the small business. The Gnehm family supported NIKIN wherever they could. Robin's parents sewed the labels onto the Treeanies.
Robin's parents worked late into the night sewing the labels onto the Treeanies.
Since Nicholas and Robin were both active Boy Scouts, they primarily wanted to plant trees with their project. The fact that so many people wanted to join in global reforestation was an unexpected—but very, very positive—surprise. Robin's two brothers, Jeffrey and Lester, also helped out in the young company. Lester, normally employed full-time as a gardener, handled logistics and shipped the NIKIN packages after work.
Lester Gnehm spent hours after work sending NIKIN packages.
Jeffrey took over communications for NIKIN and continues to do so today.
It was clear that NIKIN needed its own warehouse quickly. So NIKIN moved into a warehouse in Seengen that had previously housed a small vegetable shop.
This small house in Seengen was the first official NIKIN camp.
After work, NIKIN employees packed the products and personally delivered them to the Seenger Post Office. Demand for NIKIN products continued to grow rapidly. NIKIN quickly blocked the Seenger Post Office for half an hour every evening. It took time until all the packages were posted.
A short article in the Aargauer Zeitung shows how many packages NIKIN delivered to the Seenger Post Office.
You can read how NIKIN became a GmbH and what story lies behind the logo in the third part of the blog series .
