NIKIN visited all the producers in Portugal. Spread over five days, we personally visited all our producers, established personal contacts and made sure that our standards are met. So that you also get impressions, we look behind the scenes in the blog.
A week ago on Monday, it was time to go. The lucky chosen ones from the production and marketing teams, who had landed in sunny Porto the day before, set off for the first factory. The distribution to two cars was not very spectacular; analogous to the offices in Lenzburg, they remained loyal to their team. Anonymous tongues claim that the product team kept getting lost. In fact, they arrived too late at the first factory: apparently there are two villages with the same name near Porto, 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 Porto. He is one of our biggest producers in Portugal. In his spacious factory on a hill at the edge of the village, he produces TreeShirts, hoodies, jumpers and trousers for us. He convinces us with his open and welcoming manner as well as with the quality of the whole production process. Watch the video to see what the factory looks like from the inside:
Day 2: New yarn tested on site!
On the second day in Porto, we diligently visited other producers. The visit to Carlos, who produces our knitwear, was particularly impressive. He is currently doing tests for us with a new yarn made from recycled jeans. Who knows, maybe you will soon find it processed in one of our new collections!
Day 3: Dyeing clothes with coffee and onions
The third day in the car of the "Lenzburger Schenkelklopfer" got off to a lively start. That was the name of the marketing team in Porto. The product team, on the other hand, could not come up with a team name. "Probably too busy getting lost," said Social Media Manager Patrick with a wink. As on every day, we visited several manufacturers. Among them was a factory that colours products with organic material such as onions or coffee.. NIKIN founder Robin was enthusiastic: "Of course, this is exactly the kind of manufacturer that suits us.
Day 4 and 5: Shoes, hangtags and goodbye, Porto!
The last few days were all about the TreeShoes and the hangtags. The latter are the cardboard cards with a barcode that our producers attach to the clothes. They are also made at Porto in a small factory. Our vegan TreeShoes are made only 20 minutes away at another producer. Certain steps in the production of the shoe are still handmade, which was great to see!
Conclusion of our visit to Porto: it's worth it! Personal contacts create understanding, simplify processes and inspire new designs and methods. Moreover, we can say with a clear conscience: our manufacturers meet our standards and share our values.
