Lapuan Kankurit continues to invest in Finnish sheep's wool. With the upcoming wool spinning mill, we can control the entire production chain of wool and make unique product development with Finnish wool. At the same time, we take responsibility for transferring know-how to future generations.

Lapuan Kankurit will build – not just one, but two – new production facilities in Lapua

Alongside the Finnish sheep's wool weaving and finishing mills also comes a spinning mill. "Thanks to our own spinning mill, we can begin with a completely new kind of comprehensive product development with Finnish sheep's wool", the CEO of Lapuan Kankurit and textile industry’s passionate trailblazer, Esko Hjelt, says. With its own yarns and fibres Lapuan Kankurit is able to, for instance, mix the Finnish sheep’s wool with new cellulose-based and recycled fibres, thus creating completely new yarns. The weaving mill also makes it possible to dye the wool with natural colours even before spinning, which, according to Hjelt, gives the wool a beautiful, mottled finish. It is also possible to combine the wool from different coloured sheep to create completely unique decorative products. The path is open for large-scale experiment and development. "It is also worthwhile to be able to showcase young students, for example, the entire production chain of a wool product in our own premises. From wool fibre to a finished product. Only the wool washing is done elsewhere for the time being." Maintaining and developing the Finnish textile tradition has always been an important value for us. The project is also strongly motivated by the fact that until now up to half of Finnish sheep's wool has been wasted.

A new life for the machines of SUUPOHJAN KEHRUUTEHDAS spinning factory

Lapuan Kankurit acquired the spinning wool yarn machines from Teuva, Suupohja's spinning factory, which has not had operations in years. The equipment is currently being serviced and modernized to reflect current work safety standards. “The spinning of carded yarn is the traditional way of making yarn, and it hasn’t really changed over the years. These machines are my age, so not even that old, somewhere in their fifties”, Esko Hjelt laughs. For the needs for Finnish sheep wool from Lapuan Kankurit, the machines are the suitable size. When approximately 130,000 kilos of different yarns are used annually in our modern weaving, Finnish sheep wool initially accounts for about 10,000 kilos per year. We buy Finnish sheep wool from local farmers, turn it into yarn ourselves and weave it into decorative items in Lapua. Our new production facilities will be finished in 2022, and we are aiming to get the first Finnish sheep’s wool products ready to sell as fast as possible. Lapuan Kankurit is the leading Finnish, Made-in-Finland decoration textile company, and we wish to be the trailblazers in utilizing Finnish wool responsibly and sustainably.

Pictured: The CEO of Lapuan Kankurit, Esko Hjelt, getting acquainted with the upcoming spinning production line with Jorma Saarikoski, The CEO of the now-closed Suupohjan Kehruutehdas spinning factory.