How do you fit ten years into a blog? You really can't. There were too many encounters, decisions, late nights, and moments when we ourselves could hardly believe what was happening.
For our tenth birthday today, we're going to try anyway. With a story from every year from 2016 to 2025 – and a bonus story from our anniversary year. Some still make us laugh today. Others remind us how much we had to learn. Together they tell how an idea among friends became NIKIN.
2016: A beer, two friends, and an idea
You've probably heard this story before, but we can't help but tell it again and again. On October 22, 2016, Nicholas and Robin are sitting in McArthur's Pub in Lenzburg. The two have known each other since childhood and had been planning to start something together for a while. That evening, it became concrete. Over a beer – or maybe several.
The conversation is about beanies, winter hats, and a tree as a logo. From this comes the idea that has accompanied NIKIN to this day: If a tree is going to adorn our products, we also want to plant trees. One for every item sold with a tree logo.
With CHF 5,000 in starting capital, we get started. The first Treeanies get their labels sewn on by hand, partly by Robin's mother. A few weeks after the pub evening, the idea has become something you can actually wear on your head.
2017: When XL was suddenly S
Starting your own fashion label without experience in the fashion industry? Our motto: just do it. What that can mean becomes particularly clear with the first TreeShirts. In 2017, we order the first TreeShirts from a manufacturer in Asia and rely on their size chart. The result: An XL is roughly equivalent to a European S. The idea of who should fit into which shirt gets pretty mixed up.
It is one of many lessons from the early days. At the same time, the community reaches out with a more fundamental question: Planting trees is good – but how sustainable are the clothes themselves? We begin to research more intensively, question materials, and look for European manufacturers. From the feedback arises a standard that goes far beyond the tree logo: The products should also get better step by step.
2018: Two trees instead of a discount battle
Black Friday is approaching, the highest holiday of the fashion industry. Offers are everywhere, NIKIN could also join in with discounts. But we decide on a different approach: On Green Friday, two trees are planted for every product sold. There is no discount for this.
We don't know how the community will react to this beforehand. The answer comes in the form of over 1,000 orders in a single day. NIKIN had never received so many before. In the weeks that follow, we improvise, pack, and reinforce. Five additional packing stations are created for the Christmas business, and 15 more people temporarily help. Four of them write the tree certificates alone.
The first Green Friday becomes a turning point. And a pretty clear answer to the question of whether the community supports our idea.
2019: 150 registrations for a day in the forest
In the spring of 2019, NIKIN invites people to the first joint tree planting day. In the Lenzhard forest near Lenzburg, the bark beetle has left its mark. Together with the Lenzia forestry services, forest is to be created there again. The invitation goes out via newsletter. Anyone who wants to be there writes briefly why. Within about two hours, 150 registrations arrive. Problem: there is only room for 50 people.
They travel from all over Switzerland and plant 480 saplings under expert guidance: 400 oaks, 40 yews, and 40 silver firs. Afterwards, the young trees are protected against wildlife browsing. To finish, there is something to eat and a beer together. On this day, we experience this sense of community for the first time: people come together, get their hands dirty, and give something back to nature together. Many more tree planting days will follow, while the community steadily grows.
2020: A Spitzfirs for half a million
In April 2020, a place in Lenzburg gets a new tree. A Spitzfirs, planted together with city officials. It stands on the Markus-Roth-Platz in the former Hero area. The occasion: 500,000 trees since the start of NIKIN. Three and a half years earlier, there was an idea in the pub and a first small series of winter hats. Now it has become half a million.
Most of these trees stand in reforestation projects abroad. The Spitzfirs also makes the milestone visible in our hometown. Anyone who passes by can see a tree that is connected to this story. In the middle of a year that turns a lot of things upside down, this is a beautiful moment to pause and say thank you to everyone who made it possible.
2021: Packages get stuck
NIKIN is growing, but its own logistics are reaching their limits. Therefore, in the spring of 2021, an external partner is supposed to take over storage and shipping. The plan: a few days of interruption, after that more reliable processes. It turns out differently. A few days become over a month. Packages arrive late, are incorrectly assembled, or poorly packed. For customers, this is disappointing, for the team an enormous burden.
Finally, NIKIN changes the partner. The new solution works significantly better. What remained is the experience of how much trust hangs on a seemingly simple package. We learned how important it is to look closely when you hand over responsibility.
2022: The community becomes a co-owner
In 2022, NIKIN asks itself a central question about the future: How do we finance the next steps of our development? After examining various options, it becomes clear that the answer lies where NIKIN has always had its greatest strength: in the community. Together we start our first financing round and enable our supporters to directly become part of the NIKIN story.
The feedback gives courage. In November, around 1,000 investors already buy shares worth CHF 1.7 million. In December, public crowdfunding starts. Even before the end of the year, the increased goal of CHF 5 million is reached.
In total, over 4,000 new owners join. People who support NIKIN and bear a part of the entrepreneurial risk. This trust means a lot – especially when not everything always goes according to plan. For the three largest investors, we personally plant a tree in the garden.
2023: What makes us at our core
We take time for fundamental questions. What does NIKIN stand for? Which products fit us? And where do we want to develop? In March 2023, the orientation is sharpened. Closer to nature again, closer to our own roots. We write down the core values of NIKIN for the first time with the team.
Looking back helps: at scout camps, shared experiences outdoors, and the early conviction to take responsibility for nature. In the fall, concrete decisions for the assortment follow. The focus is more on outerwear and headwear, while other product categories are scaled back.
The story of this year therefore takes place mainly in conversations and decisions. It gives a clearer direction for what comes after.
2024: The longer worn, the more back
Normally, the clothing trade rewards the next purchase. In November 2024, NIKIN starts a program that is also supposed to reward long wearing: Circular Cashback. The idea: Anyone who returns a participating garment after use receives a part of the purchase price back. The longer it was worn, the higher the refund.
TreeShirts and TreeHoodies made from naNea by OceanSafe with a Cradle to Cradle Gold certification are starting. With their return, the materials should be able to enter the cycle again. Behind the program is a question that increasingly preoccupies us: What happens to a garment when it is no longer worn? Circular Cashback is a concrete step to think this next phase into the product development already.
2025: At four in the morning, the tree finally hangs
A TreeHouse needs a tree. For Robin, it was clear that a real larch should stand in NIKIN's new home in Aarau. But before that could happen, it would take structural engineers, a lot of planning and the right tree. In early January, the decisive call comes: a larch in the Lenzburg region has been blown down in a storm. It could be the one. Before it is allowed into the house, it is treated in a drying chamber.
Then the installation begins. The operation takes 18 hours. It is only at four in the morning on opening day that the larch is hanging in place. A few hours later, the first guests arrive: around 800 people visit the opening on March 1. The TreeHouse will be our first permanent store. Finally, we have a shared home for the team, ideas and community.
Bonus Story 2026: Back to Our Roots
A lot has happened in the last 10 years. If our idea started as a seedling, it has since experienced everything: it has grown, borne fruit, been pruned, and survived storms. This gives us the idea to visit our first trees.
In April 2026, Harry «Hank» Lynch from One Tree Planted visits NIKIN. Our collaboration with the organization has been with us since the early years. What began with research, a test purchase of trees and many questions has over time become a long-standing partnership with many joint projects. Another one is being planned: A trip to Kenya, to the first trees.
After ten years full of products, packages, plans and challenges, this encounter brings us back to what was at the beginning: our connection to nature. And to the people who are working together with us for it.
Even More Stories in Our Anniversary Book
Ten stories can only tell a small part of this journey. Many more belong to our team, our families, our partners – and you. You can find them in our Book «The One with the Tree – 10 Years of NIKIN».
Together for Nature. Tree by tree.
