Finnish company Novita brings all the wool it uses from Britain.
- Novita yarn factory is almost a hundred years old.
- More than a million Finns enjoy knitting.
- The hobby of knitting teaches you to value quality and durability in clothes.
– Can this be true?
That’s what he thought Mikko Koponenwhen he, as the newly elected CEO of Novita, went to the first meetings at the office in the spring of 2023.
Everyone was knitting at the meetings.
– I was completely amazed, Koponen admits.
As CEO of Novita, she often gets to answer the question of whether she also knits herself.
– I have made a blanket for my daughter’s Barbie, she says.
Led by Koponen, the largest yarn manufacturer in the Nordic countries, which will celebrate its centenary in a few years, is now looking for growth in the export market as well.
– We offer yarn, collections and inspiration, defines Koponen.
After many working steps, wool yarn is finally created from such volatile wool masses. Helja Salonen
The most popular is the sock
Today, knitting is a hobby that is taken up for different reasons than before. Before, you had to knit, because woolen socks and shirts were necessary against the winter cold.
Today we knit because it gives us a lot as a hobby.
The knitter gets to feel the joy of working with different materials, he gets to learn something new, show off his learned skills, and he ends up with a knitwear that is sure to be completely unique.
A wool sock is still the most popular thing to knit.
In Novita’s own consumer classification, the person who knits socks year after year is Perintineinen Pirkko.
Another type of knitter knits wonderful fashion creations for herself. The third type of knitter is in the middle of peak years, so he knits for fun and intermittently when the right moment for the hobby arrives.
In the foreground, white and red wool tops, with combed and carded wool with airy, long fibers. Helja Salonen
British wool
For decades, Novita’s flagship product has been the 7 brothers yarn, which is a particularly suitable sock yarn, although the yarn is also suitable for knitting a wool coat, for example.
The most popular color of the 7 brothers yarn is the enduring favorite black.
If a Seiskaveika color suddenly became so trendy that it could no longer be found in stores, the Koria factory would be able to make a new batch of yarn in about a week or two.
Novita has a yarn factory in Koria, Kouvola, but the wool comes from West Yorkshire, England. Koponen is used to answering the question of why Novita does not use Finnish sheep’s wool.
– At our factory, the wool from a Finnish sheep would only be enough for five days’ needs, Koponen regrets.
At the Novita factory, the office chairs are also crocheted to be unique. Helja Salonen
Wool from England arrives in Koria washed, carded and combed. The wool is then in large loose coils, wool tops.
In a large factory hall that smells strongly of sheep’s wool, different types of yarn are made from wool tops. Part of the yarn is dyed as tops, part is processed to the skein stage.
A million knits
According to Koponen, the hobby of knitting is largely passed from parent to child or grandparent to grandchild.
According to estimates, more than a million Finns enjoy knitting.
A huge knitting boom warmed Finland during the corona pandemic, when restrictions forced people to stay at home. Knitting was perfect for that period.
A large number of Finns knit and donate socks to charity. No one knows the exact number of charity socks, but it is hardly an exaggeration to say that tens of thousands of them are made every year.
CEO Mikko Koponen wants Novita to get more customers from outside Finland. Helja Salonen
Something all your own
Now the most fashionable knits are made of fluffy yarns. The most popular colors are various shades of brown and burgundy red.
More and more people want to knit something that really looks different and completely their own. The wool coat collection has been browsed very diligently on Novita’s website this year.
It is said that you can recognize a craftsman in a clothing store by the fact that he always digs out the texts from the seam of the garment, which material the garment is made of and where.
– Making handicrafts increases the appreciation of the material, says the editor-in-chief Saara Toikka From the Novita design team.
Since it can take dozens of working hours to make a knitwear, the finished piece of clothing is a counterattack to the avalanche of ultra-fast fashion. You want to cherish and take good care of your self-made clothing so that it lasts.