As the turbulent yet eventful year 2020 draws to a close, now is the perfect time to sit back and look back on an eventful year.
As the turbulent yet eventful year 2020 draws to a close, now is the perfect time to sit back and look back on an eventful year.
2020 will go down in history as Corona's extraordinary year, and yet it actually began quite ordinarily. In February, the world still seemed 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 as well. We enjoyed a fantastic day on the mountain and strengthened our team spirit for the many 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 confronted with the question: how should we proceed next ? Within a very short period of time, we switched our entire operation, with the exception of logistics, completely to a home office, 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. During the course of the year, we were delighted to welcome numerous new motivated employees to the NIKIN family, who can take us a level further with their know-how in various areas such as marketing, product, logistics, events or 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. In the meantime, our team has grown to almost 50 employees, who work hard every day to advance NIKIN and our vision next . 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. Most of them had to be postponed or unfortunately cancelled. Among other things, various TreePlanting Days fell victim, where we wanted to lend a hand together with our community and help reforest our local forests. When the festival season was officially buried, our event team had to reschedule. But there was no lack of alternatives, with strict protection concepts, various events could still be held. In September, for example, we were able to free our hometown of Lenzburg from kilos of garbage on the occasion of the international Clean-Up Day with the help of many dedicated volunteers from our community - it was frightening to see how much waste recklessly ends up where it definitely doesn't belong.
Our "Alaska" room, which we lovingly turned into our first in-house shop for direct sales in spring, unfortunately had to wait for its first customers because of Corona. Instead, we organised the first online outlet sale, which went through the roof so much that at times even our website succumbed to the rush and collapsed. With the relaxed measures, we were finally able to put our in-house shop into operation in the summer and open our doors regularly for direct sales - of course always with the necessary protective measures in place. 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 reckon with longer waiting times on a few occasions, which we bridged with free beer and Indian delicacies from the food truck for those waiting in line.
This year we were also able to expand our shop network, in which selected NIKIN products are represented, to over a hundred partner shops across Europe. So you're sure to find us somewhere near you. In addition, we 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 - with this, we want to make sustainable fashion accessible to everyone and inspire a conscious and sustainable lifestyle. After all, if everyone would just think a little more sustainably, the world would already be helped a lot.
Zeitgeist, innovation and creativity are the qualities that our product team always displays. As a result, we regularly present new products that are not only aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, but 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 - or our new Treeanies made from Polylana®, a more sustainable alternative to traditional acrylic. For the latter material, by the way, we are the first brand to manufacture and offer products made of 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 in the process - you've probably come across one of our ads at some point.
The absolute high flyer of the year: the TreeMask
The best-selling product in 2020 was by far the TreeMask, but there is a need for explanation. At the beginning of the crisis, we actively decided against selling protective masks because we don't think it's right to make a 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 whether there was a need for a mask from NIKIN . The result was clear. The result was clear, so we initially had 2,000 masks produced (we didn't know how long the epidemic would last), and they were all sold out within 40 minutes. The sustainable and comfortable mask is a big hit, and this is also reflected in the public; there is hardly a train without someone sitting with a TreeMask on their face.
However, we still hold on to our attitude and sell the masks without our own profit. We offer the protective mask at cost price, 1 planted Tree included. In addition, we also offer the mask with a surcharge, which will be donated directly to the Corona Aid of Caritas Switzerland. We have masks again - so protect yourself and your fellow human beings 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 helps us to constantly move forward. It is impossible to imagine NIKIN without our great community, which also helps shape it. Again and again, we offer the opportunity to have an influence and to make requests with surveys via 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 for it! Our social media team keeps you informed and entertained so that you are always up to date and don'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 fact that our community can really have an influence was demonstrated by the "Crowd Design" competition in spring, where anyone and everyone could send in designs for a TreeShirt. The crowd then voted online to decide on the winning design, which was then realised and finally offered on all our sales channels. We received a total of over 1,200 designs, of which Dominique's "TreeCompass" design came out on top. Only a few hours after the release in August, it was already sold out.
In April, half a million trees were planted - in December, the full million!
"The one with the trees": NIKIN would not 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 a descriptive number. Symbolically for this milestone, we planted the 500'000th Tree in our home town of Lenzburg, where it can be admired today at Markus-Roth-Platz. Under the Norway maple (Acer Platanoides), a sign commemorates this special milestone in NIKIN history.
As in previous years, we celebrated "Green Friday" instead of Black Friday at the end of November. We deliberately decided not to take part in this unrestrained price battle on Black Friday. That's why we deliberately didn't offer any discounts during the entire Green Friday weekend, but instead planted 2 trees for every product sold. And that added up to a considerable sum: a total of around 42,000 additional trees will be planted on the occasion of Green Friday.
During the Christmas season, our tree counter raced upwards faster and faster, gradually approaching the full million trees planted - and on the morning of December 19, the time had come: the million mark had been reached! 1'000'000 trees planted! We are once again completely overwhelmed by this gigantic milestone in NIKIN history and can hardly put our joy and pride into words.
We will of course also celebrate this milestone in a fitting manner and symbolically immortalise 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 remain a reminder of this great milestone for a long time to come.
That's it - and now with fresh impetus into 2021!
For NIKIN , the Christmas season already begins in spring. A well-functioning organization in advance is essential in order to be ideally prepared for our main season at the end of fall. The (pre-) Christmas season is very intense, sometimes nerve-wracking, but nevertheless the most beautiful time of the year. All our teams work tirelessly during these weeks to make sure that you, too, have a wonderful holiday season. After all, our logistics and customer service teams make sure that all the 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.
