MESSAGE OF THE CEO JEAN KLIMIS

The story of Nicols begins in 1890, on a small Greek Island called Kalymnos, heart of a natural sponge fishery in the Mediterranean sea. Jean Klimis, a young 15-year-old man leaves his country and his family for a brighter future. After a long journey, he arrived in Belgium in 1897 and founded his company. 20 years later, his company became the European leader in the sector of sponges.

In 1939, the worldwide war put an end to the business but in 1947, the founder’s son, Nicolas, rebuilt everything from scratch, in a small house in Brussels. He used to say “I owned nothing but the one thing I held on to : a crazy will to succeed !”. He then created his own brand, “Nicols”, and within 20 years , he became leader of the Belgian market…. 30 years after this, Nicolas was joined by his two sons, Pierre and Jean. Nicols started manufacturing and began its conquest with the French market and one priority : Private labels. In 20 years-time, Nicols became the leader of Private Label business in France and then in Europe !