Nikander ja Wiinikka Ltd. has more than 100 years of experience in leather. The company was founded in 1897 by Oskar Nikander, the father of grandfather of the present managing director. Together with his brother Oskar bought a cousin's leather goods shop in Helsinki. The company is still owned by the Nikander family.

The turnover of the young company grew steadily. By 1917, the year when Finland gained independence, the business expanded from retailing to wholesales and became a commercial agent to choice Continental Europe tanneries. Three new shareholders were admitted. In 1932 the original company was replaced by a new one named Nikander ja Wiinikka Oy. Notably, shares of the new company were offered also to the employees.

In 1958 the company relocated from Helsinki to Tampere to be closer to the company’s main customers. After the Second World War Tampere emerged as the center of Finnish shoe industry. With the two rapidly developing factory towns of Kankaanpää and Orivesi also nearby, the new office found ideal location in the center of Tampere, near the big shoe factories.

Nowadays the office is in the Sarankulma industrial zone, some 5 kilometers from the city centre. Nikander ja Wiinikka Ltd. has had three different subsidiaries, first in Tampere, later in Helsinki. The present subsidiary, Nikander ja Wiinikka Eesti AS, was founded in 1996 in Tallinn.