Finn-nauha´s
History
The 1940`s and 1950`s
The history of Finn-Nauha Oy began almost a hundred years ago in 1919 when the company’s founder, Taavi Aleksanteri Reijonen, began his career as a maker of webbing at the oldest weaving mill for webbing in Finland, P.G. Holm Ab. There was plenty of demand for good craftsmen, and in 1938 Taavi was invited to join the webbing factory Kutomo ja Punomo Oy in Turku as a master weaver.
The first sections of webbing were woven in Tampere towards the end of the 1940s. The textile industry was weakened by rationing in the 1940s, as well as the lack of raw materials, machines, capital and foreign currency. Mechanical looms built in the factories were used to manufacture cotton shoulder straps, waistbands and hairbands.
The 1960`s and 1970`s
During the golden age of miniskirts in the 1960s women exposed as much of their legs as they could, even in the severe weather conditions of the North. Manufacturing miniskirts required a little fabric and Finn-Nauha’s curved waistbands.
The Winter Olympics in Innsbruck in 1976 proved a breakthrough for new competitive ski poles and skis, with fibreglass and carbon fibre replacing wood and bamboo. At the same time, the material of the grip straps changed from leather to polyester. Finn-Nauha Oy was involved in this product development right from the start.
Right away, the achievements reached with the new ski poles were significant: from 1976 to 1989 an average of 75% of all Olympic and World Championship medals were won using carbon fibre ski poles. We made the grip straps for these victorious poles and we were the largest manufacturer of these products in the world.
The 1980`s and 1990`s
Finland enjoyed an economic boom in the 1980s. Youth culture was thriving and boomboxes blasted out Finnish rock music. The number of young people buying their first moped or car was growing quickly in our prospering country.
The Finnish Road Safety Council campaigned for road safety with various themes, including the use of seat belts and reflectors, and against drunk driving. To promote road safety, we designed our elastic Stretch reflector, which is easy and quick to slip on the leg or arm. “Stretch around the clock,” our 1980s slogan urged..
Watch our Stretch advertisement from the 1980s!
From the 2000`s to today
At the beginning of the 2000s, the prospects of the Finnish textile industry were strongly linked to high-quality product design, technically demanding products, short production runs and quick, flexible deliveries.
The development of high-tech textiles requires knowledge of various industries, as well as excellent textile know-how. Special textiles are becoming more and more important in sectors such as healthcare, paper, machinery and construction, as well as in the environmental field.
Almost a hundred years have passed since Taavi Reijonen learned about webbing, and after the war our main products were hairbands, waistbands and shoulder straps. Today, we are focusing on technical webbing products for a broad range of requirements. We have held the highest AAA credit rating since the 1990s.
We have always founded our operations on cooperation with our customers and on partnership and trust. Our aim is always to find the best possible solution for our customers’ needs.
Artio Oy