Nanik

In the 1970s, Milco had produced built-in Venetian blinds in their sliding and double-hung windows using a line originally developed from the Dutch company, Hunter-Douglas International. But with the success of these products, Apogee looked to develop their own line of window covering products. And so in 1978, the window conglomerate Apogee created Nanik as a new company to produce window coverings

Although Nanik started as part of Milco, it quickly grew into its own company. It moved into a new facility in 1979, in the northern part of the Wausau Industrial Park. The growth of the new company was in a large part due to the success of their line of wood Venetian blinds. Made from local basswood from Central Wisconsin, as well as exotic raman and banak wood from Malaysia and South America (respectively), these blinds let Nanik fill a niche role in the high-end residential market.

^ Examples of four sizes of Nanik blinds from a product brochure

An article in the Wausau Daily Herald in February of 1980 noted that Nanik's wood Venetian blinds had become popular with trend setters in Los Angeles and it estimated that about a quarter of its sales where being sent to Southern California:

A list of Nanik's customers includes sports stars like Bruce Jenner and O.J. Simpson, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, comedian Steve Martin, musician Doc Severinsen and other stars like Robert DeNiro, Jackie DeShannon, Katie Jackson, Paul Anka and Alejandro Rey.

-Tom Berger, "Blinds open up future for Nanik" (21 February 1980) 

Other Nanik Brands

With the initial success of their Venetian blinds, Nanik expanded their product offerings to a wider range of products. 

Some of these brands were developed to make blinds from the materials, such as Timberline to make wood windows and later Optix for translucent blinds (made from materials similar to sunglasses).

Nanik also expanded by purchasing existing brands. In 1986, Apogee purchased the Arizona-based "The Shuttery." Two years later, the Florida-based manufacturer Windax, Inc was bought by Apogee in 1988. These purchases brought not only new brands "Window Works" and "Shades Unlimited," but also a wider distribution network for existing brands in Nanik.

Apogee continued to run The Shuttery in Arizona, but five years later, it elected to relocate the manufacturing operations to be housed in the Wausau Business Incubator. The Wausau Business Incubator was established in 1986, and provided low rent space and common infrastructure for start-ups while they got their footing. Ultimately the Shuttery of Nanik (as it was renamed) remained as part of the Business Incubator until 1996, and would be integrated into Nanik proper. But this decision was not made by Apogee, but by the new owners of both the Shuttery and Nanik.

New Ownership

Apogee had been considering selling off its coverings division in the early 1990s. But Nanik received a pass for a few years as blind sales helped balance out a decline of sales in high-rise construction projects in the recession of the early 1990s. But with the recovery of of their window fabrication division, Apogee decided it was time to divest the coverings division.

In 1995, the North Carolina company Spring Industries purchased Nanik from Apogee. Springs Industries was one of the largest American textile manufactures, and had expanded into other kinds of retail products.* The Nanik factory continued to be operated under the name “Spring Industries Fashion Division-Nanik” (and similar iterations of the name). 

Springs Industries merged with Coteminas of Brazil in 2001 (to become Springs Global). Over the next few years many of Spring Industries factories and offices in North America were closed as the operations of the new company shifted to South America. This included the former Nanik was closed as part of this shift around 2003.

* Despite the name of the company, Springs did not produce "springs," bottled spring water, etc. Instead the name dates back to 1895 when Leroy Spring started a cotton mill in Lancaster, South Carolina.