In our three-part blog series, we show you how two childhood friends founded NIKIN and wanted to give something back to nature. In the first part, find out how NIKIN founders Robin and Nicholas met and where the idea for their own company came from.
In our three-part blog series, we show you how two childhood friends founded NIKIN and wanted to give something back to nature. In the first part, find out how NIKIN founders Robin and Nicholas met and where the idea for their own company came from.
Nicholas Hänny (left) and Robin Gnehm (right) founded NIKIN in 2016.
The two NIKIN founders Robin Gnehm and Nicholas Hänny have known each other literally since they were children. Nicholas is Robin's father's godson. And vice versa, Jeffrey, Robin's brother, is Nicholas' father's godson. Sounds complicated, but in a nutshell: Robin and Nicholas have known each other since they were children. At the time, however, nobody could have guessed that they would go on to found a successful company together.
Young and already at that time preferably in nature: The two NIKIN founders play together in the snow.
The wonderful NIKIN story began in 2016, when Robin traveled through the forests of Canada and was amazed by the tree-filled landscape. When he returns, he meets up with his old friend Nicholas. Over a beer in the "McArthurs" pub in Lenzburg, the two discuss more than just Robin's travel experiences.
The idea for NIKIN was born during a cozy evening at "McArthurs" in Lenzburg.
The two scouts care about nature and decide to do something for reforestation. At this point, Nicholas has already designed his own small collection of gym bags. Friends and family have bought some of them from him. One thing leads to another and Robin and Nicholas decide to produce their own hats and plant a Tree for every one they sell. No sooner said than done - just a short time later, the two were selling the first NIKIN hats, now known as Treeanies.
They order 60 Treeanies as a first step. To their great surprise, they are completely sold out after three days.
Robin and Nicholas discussed via WhatsApp how many Treeanies they should order.
They stored their goods in Robin's brother Jeffrey's children's room. From there, they were soon sending their treeanies not just to friends and acquaintances, but all over Switzerland.
You can read about how Robin involved his whole family and how NIKIN kept an entire post office alive in the second part of the blog series.
