Handicraft yarns manufacturer Novita, a family-owned company soon to celebrate its 100^th anniversary, has managed to find brand new clientele in young people and is exporting Finnish crafts tradition worldwide. Finlayson, an over 200-year-old company with products that can be found in just about every Finnish home, has become active in taking part in social debates.

What do these traditional companies that have been successful for decades upon decades have in common?

Traditional values work

First, both companies have been drawing on from their long history and very traditional values to boldly modernise their operations.

A decade ago, Novita gathered their entire personnel to discuss values. That led to a set of values that were based on the early years of the company. Definitions such as competent, sustainable and inspiring were not just words framed on the wall. They were made visible as part of the everyday life.

– I feel it’s easy to make bold decisions in a company steeped in tradition when you lean on values. I believe everyone here at Novita can tell you about our values and wants to act according to them. We highlight our values also in our recruitment process because we want people who are willing to commit to our core ideology, says Daniela Yrjö-Koskinen, Board Member and owner of Novita.

Jukka Kurttila, CDO and owner of Finlayson, concurs. He, along with his business partners, acquired Finlayson in 2014. The company was doing poorly but had firm roots. Those did not need reinvention.

–We made the drastic decision of having the most boring values in the world – responsibility, boldness, and so on. I was used to going after something different and unusual in my previous career in advertisement. But, we realised it was time to get back to basics. The core of Finlayson was strong, but it got lost over the years.

Values create meaning to work

Kurttila states that many companies tend to forget their roots when they start to grow instead of holding on to what made them successful in the first place or what was their raison d’etre.

–This can easily lead to choosing suitable values and behavioural models from that next size category. This is how companies blend into one indistinguishable mass. When we clarified our roots and values, we established a sound foundation for the future, he says.

Before the new owners, design had become a synonym for efficiency in the company.

Over a long period of time the activities had been aimed at making savings, rather than creating.

Kurttila and his partners wanted to create meaning and beauty into the daily lives of people. Radical changes needed to be made – without those Finlayson would have perhaps ceased to exist.

–We delved into the company history. With one of our values being responsibility, it needs to be reflected also in the operations and choices. We wanted, and still want, to put effort into being transparent and become even more responsible. We stood out by starting to act according to our values and bringing up subjects that were meaningful to us, Kurttila says.

Most of the transformation at Finlayson took place in product development. The entire relationship with the raw material supply chain was shaken up. Somewhere along the way Kurttila, too, received comments that nobody cares about any of that.

–As Finnish companies and brands, we cannot pit ourselves against the giants in low-cost production with the resources we have. We need to find the core essence from somewhere else.

For us, that was operating in a responsible manner and making people’s everyday life better. Every staff member needs meaning in their work, and nowadays when we are hiring, we are able to see how our values and operations impact pretty much everyone applying to work for us, says Kurttila.

Instead of objectives, at Finlayson people talk about their aspirations and dreams.

–Dreams are often bigger and bolder for companies, too. I highly recommend you to dream.

The antithesis of fast fashion

In addition to strong values, curiosity has always been at the centre of the family company Novita.

–I have noticed that curiosity is prevalent in many of our people, and it is what helps us renew our activities. But mere curiosity is not enough. Renewal requires also multifaceted teams and a culture of experimenting. You are allowed to fail here, but you need an attitude that says: fail fast, establish that it did not work, and move on Yrjö-Koskinen says.

When she first began working for Novita at the end of the 1990s, the selection consisted mostly of yarns for knitting socks with a colour scheme of different greys. At the time the biggest change was introducing people to a fashionable lifestyle and knitting inspiration – colours and a sense of achievement from making things yourself!

Now, in this millennium, building a strong community has been pivotal to Novita’s success. There are different knitting-related Novita communities on different platforms. They provide the company with valuable feedback and keep the art of traditional Finnish handicrafts alive and well.

–Influencer collaborations, launching new products and knitting patterns as well as partnerships with companies that share our values have been essential in attracting new customer groups.

Knitwear fashion and responsible design have taken on a leading role in our efforts to reach new consumers. We have managed to transform and renew our company while still retaining the long-established Novita fans.

“We have managed to transform and renew our company while still retaining the long-established Novita fans.”

Sustainability maintains a strong presence also at the core of Novita. There is manufacturing in Finland and wool is an ecological, natural material. Knitting is also an antithesis of fast fashion and as a hobby it balances out the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Consumer surveys also show that the main reason for knitting is its relaxing, meditative effect.

–In the past you would knit socks because you needed them whereas now it’s a beloved hobby and a way to relax. We managed to spot this trend in time and we stand behind it. We help create stitches for a meaningful life, just like we state in our brand promise, Yrjö-Koskinen says.

Jump out of your comfort zone

According to Kurttila, a prerequisite for renewing a company or a brand is that you need to be interested also in other things. Not just in your own thing.

–It’s not enough to network a few times a year with the operators in your own industry. You need to step outside your usual circles. You can, and need, to make these choices actively, he says.

Occasionally you might be all excited and deep into your own thing, and then you forget the actual end-user. On the other hand, you cannot react every single time the consumers have a change of heart.

–Looking back a few years ago, we were in the middle of a pandemic, and now we’ve seen the meteoric rise of e-commerce sites selling cheap products. Our world seems to be going through a change every couple of years. You cannot rush into things. Maintain your focus and think about your values and products, and the angle you enter the market with, Kurttila says.

Alongside a clear direction, you need agility. Novita does a lot of piloting and experiments new things with a low threshold.

–Do not allow yourself to say that we’ve already tried this, it’s not for us. Maybe something you tried five years ago might have its moment now. We do a lot of research, but we lead by data and intuition – those are not mutually exclusive, says Yrjö-Koskinen.

Do not let fear limit you

With changes and bold decisions, there is often resistance, and even fear.

–For example, lack of information or a schedule that is too tight can cause fear. You need to listen to the other party and understand what causes their concern. It’s all based on trust and the fact that everyone feels safe in times of change. Once again we go back and lean on the values that support us and help us justify the decisions we are making, says Yrjö-Koskinen.

–What I’ve noticed is that when you bring up renewal in design, the first reaction tends to be to look for things that can go wrong. Fear sets in and you miss all kinds of possibilities. It’s a good thing to bring up those fears and put into words what actually causes you to feel the way you feel. Why someone might believe that X will happen – then maybe also Y can happen, Kurttila says.

–Amid all the change, it would be good to remind everyone about the successes. What has worked and all the steps we have taken forward. You need to celebrate even the smallest of things, Yrjö-Koskinen adds.

Sometimes the CEO is the only one not wavering.

–Back when we launched the Jesus bed linen with the ad Jesus is coming, are you ready, nobody believed it was worth doing. Everyone was panicking. There was only one person besides me that believed in the product. In the end when we launched the product, we got pure love from the consumers. You need to keep in mind that there is always much more love than hate from the consumers. Even though the angry ones seem to be the loudest, Kurttila says.

Kurttila hopes that companies would play a bigger part and get involved in social debates as well as be active operators. Yrjö-Koskinen would like to see more initiatives without the fear of failure.

–I encourage everyone to be bolder and believe in yourself, make yourself stand out because we have fantastic products and stories here in Finland. Finnish brands are on the cusp of many megatrends. That is something worth utilising. Be bold and target international markets, Yrjö-Koskinen says encouragingly.