The turbulent and yet very eventful year 2020 is drawing to a close, so now is the perfect time to sit back, relax and look back on an eventful year.
The turbulent and yet very eventful year 2020 is drawing to a close, so now is the perfect time to sit back, relax and look back on an eventful year.
2020 will go down in history as the extraordinary year of Corona, and yet it actually began quite ordinarily. In February, the world still seemed to be intact, the virus still far away from us, and so we set off with the entire team to Engelberg for the NIKIN Ski Day to put our skills to the test on the slopes. We enjoyed a fantastic day on the mountain and strengthened our team spirit for the numerous upcoming projects in 2020.
In March we say goodbye to the home office
And then what we all feared happened: Corona reached Switzerland and the federal government declared a nationwide lockdown in March. Like all companies, we were faced with the question of what to do next. Within a very short space of time, we switched all of our operations, with the exception of logistics, to working from home, which took some getting used to at first, but fortunately did not pose any major problems because most of our processes can also be handled online.
And yet it had to go on, because we had a lot planned for this year. Over the course of the year, we were delighted to welcome numerous new motivated employees to the NIKIN Family, who can take us to the next level with their expertise in various areas such as marketing, product, logistics, events and customer service. Many of them started their work directly in the home office, which could be challenging with the limited interpersonal contact, but could be managed with regular online meetings with the entire NIKIN team. Our team has now grown to almost 50 employees who are fully committed to advancing NIKIN and our vision on a daily basis. This growth also enabled us to found NIKIN AG in the summer. These developments make us very proud!
Events - a no-go in times of corona?
There were actually quite a few events on the agenda for 2020, both external and internal. Unfortunately, most of them had to be postponed or canceled. Among the casualties were various TreePlanting Days, where we wanted to work together with our community and help reforest our local forests. When the festival season was also officially buried, our event team had to reschedule promptly. However, there was no lack of alternatives, and with strict protection concepts, various events could still be held. In September, for example, we were able to free our hometown of Lenzburg from kilograms of garbage with the help of many dedicated volunteers from our community for the international Clean-Up Day - it was shocking to see how much garbage recklessly ends up where it definitely doesn't belong.
Our "Alaska" room, which we lovingly set up as our first in-house store for direct sales in spring, unfortunately still had to wait for its first customers due to coronavirus. Instead, we organized the first online outlet sale, which went through the roof to such an extent that at times our website even succumbed to the onslaught and collapsed. With the measures relaxed, we were finally able to put our in-house store into operation in the summer and regularly open our doors for direct sales - always in compliance with the necessary protective measures, of course. On release days, the brand new products can be purchased directly from us on site. As the number of visitors is particularly high on these days, we had to expect longer waiting times on some occasions, which we bridged with free beer and Indian delicacies from the food truck for those waiting in line.
This year, we have also been able to expand our network of stores selling selected NIKIN products to over one hundred partner stores across Europe. So you are sure to find us somewhere near you. We also successfully opened a temporary pop-up store for the second time during the summer months, this time in Basel.
We have (almost) everything you need - sustainably
For over four years, NIKIN has been pursuing the philosophy of cool, stylish and sustainable products at fair prices - we want to make sustainable fashion accessible to everyone and inspire a conscious and sustainable lifestyle. After all, if everyone thought just a little more sustainably, the world would be a much better place.
Zeitgeist, innovation and creativity - these are the characteristics that our product team always demonstrates. As a result, we regularly present new products that not only look great and are comfortable, but are also made from sustainable materials and largely manufactured in Europe. We are particularly proud of our SwimWear Collection made from Econyl®/Seaqual® - recycled plastic from the oceans - and our new treeanies made from Polylana®, a more sustainable alternative to conventional acrylic. Incidentally, we are the first brand to manufacture and offer products made from this material in Europe.
Throughout the year, we released new products at regular intervals, for which our marketing and content team launched wide-ranging and creative advertising campaigns and produced a lot of great content - you've probably come across one of our advertisements at some point.
The absolute high-flyer of the year: the TreeMask
The best-selling product in 2020 was by far the TreeMask, but this needs to be explained. At the beginning of the crisis, we actively decided against selling protective masks because we don't think it's right to profit from a crisis. And yet we were asked almost daily when NIKIN protective masks would finally be available. We asked our community several times in public whether there was a need for a NIKIN mask. The result was clear, so we initially had 2,000 of them produced (we didn't know how long the epidemic would last), which were all sold out within 40 minutes, believe it or not. The sustainable and comfortable mask is a big hit and this is also evident in public - there is hardly a train without someone with a TreeMask on their face.
However, we are sticking to our stance and selling the masks at no profit. We offer the protective mask at cost price, including 1 planted tree. We also offer the mask at an additional cost, which is donated directly to Caritas Switzerland's Corona Aid. We have masks again - so protect yourself and those around you now with a TreeMask.
NIKIN without its community? - unimaginable!
As a brand, we thrive on our community, which supports and inspires us on a daily basis and thus constantly drives us forward. It is impossible to imagine NIKIN without our fantastic community, which also plays a key role in shaping NIKIN. Time and again, we offer the opportunity to exert influence and make requests through surveys on social media. Due to the many event cancellations, we unfortunately had to massively cut back on personal contact with our community - but we were all the more connected online! Our social media team keeps you informed and entertained so that you are always up to date and won't miss anything from us. You can now find us on practically all social media platforms under @nikinclothing. With the total number of followers across all our platforms, we could fill stadiums (the leader is Instagram with around 115k followers)!
The "Crowd Design" competition in spring, where anyone and everyone could send in design drafts for a TreeShirt, showed that our community really can have an influence. The crowd then decided on the winning design via online voting, which was then realized and ultimately offered on all of our sales channels. In total, we received over 1,200 designs, of which Dominique's "TreeCompass" design prevailed. It was sold out just a few hours after its release in August.
Half a million trees were planted in April - the full million in December!
"The one with the trees": NIKIN wouldn't be NIKIN without the trees. At the beginning of April, the tree counter on our website passed the 500,000 mark! Half a million trees, that's an impressive figure. To symbolize this milestone, we planted the 500,000th tree in our home town of Lenzburg, where it can be admired today at Markus-Roth-Platz. A sign under the Norway maple (Acer Platanoides) commemorates this special milestone in NIKIN's history.
As in previous years, we celebrated "Green Friday" instead of Black Friday at the end of November. We made a conscious decision not to take part in this unbridled price war on Black Friday. That's why we deliberately didn't offer any discounts over the entire Green Friday weekend, but instead planted 2 trees for every product sold. And that raised a considerable sum, with a total of around 42,000 more trees being planted during Green Friday.
During the Christmas period, our tree counter sped up and gradually approached the full million trees planted - and on the morning of December 19, the million mark was reached! 1,000,000 trees planted! We are once again completely overwhelmed by this gigantic milestone in NIKIN's history and can hardly put our joy and pride into words.
Of course, we will also celebrate this milestone in a fitting manner and symbolically immortalize it in our history. In the new year, NIKIN will sponsor a tree in our home town of Lenzburg, which will continue to grow like us and will serve as a reminder of this great milestone for a long time to come.
That's it - and now into 2021 with renewed vigor!
For NIKIN, the Christmas season begins in spring. A well-functioning organization in advance is essential in order to be ideally prepared for our peak season at the end of autumn. The (pre-)Christmas period is very intense, sometimes nerve-wracking, but nevertheless the most wonderful time of the year. All our teams work tirelessly during these weeks to ensure that you have a wonderful festive season. After all, our logistics and customer service teams ensure that all presents are under the Christmas tree on time. Over the past four years, NIKIN has grown from a small seed into a strong tree that will continue to grow in all directions in the new year.
