Nokian Footwear () is a Finnish manufacturer of rubber boots. It was a part of

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

(which is today known for its mobile phones) from 1967 to 1990, when it split into its own company. It was acquired by the Finnish company in 2005.

History

The company's history extends back to 1898, when Eduard Polón and a group of other Finnish businessmen decided to establish the company Suomen Gummitehdas Oy (Finnish Rubber Works Ltd) in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. After operating for a few years, the factory began to produce rubber galoshes, which competed successfully against Russian imports. After several years of production in Helsinki, the factory was moved to the town of

. Soon after, the company began to use the brand Nokia, communicating Finnishness, and to distinguish itself from the cheaper Russian products. Suomen Gummitehdas was soon manufacturing rubber goods ranging from machine belts to hoses and vehicle tyres. Later Suomen Gummitehdas Oy changed its name to a more modern Suomen Kumitehdas Oy. In 1967, Suomen Kumitehdas and Kaapelitehdas (The Cable Company) merged with the forest and power industry company Nokia Osakeyhtiö (Nokia Company) to form Nokia Corporation, the current telecommunications corporation. The group's fields of business were the

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

industries as well as

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

. At the end of the 1980s, the different industrial sectors of Nokia Corporation decided to focus on their own areas of expertise. Nokian Tyres left in 1988 to form its own, independent company and two years later, in 1990, Nokian Footwear was founded. The parent company Nokia Corporation focused on

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and divested itself of all of its other divisions. ''Nokian'' is "Nokia" in the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

, thus ''Nokian Footwear'' meaning "Footwear of Nokia". In 2005, the Finnish family business Berner bought Nokian Footwear and assumed ownership of the Nokian Footwear brands and closely guarded rubber recipes. They sell retro design classics such as Hai and Kontio rubber boots.

Milestones

* 1898 – Finnish Rubber Works Ltd (Suomen Gummitehdas Oy) founded in

. * 1904 – Factory moves to the town of

. * 1967 – Finnish Rubber Works, The Cable Company and Nokia Company merged, thereby forming Nokia Corporation. * 1973 – Kontio, a classic full-length rubber boot for men, introduced. * 1990 – Split from Nokia Corporation. Nokian Footwear Ltd. founded. * 2005 – acquires Nokian Footwear.

References

External links

Official site

Berner Oy
Manufacturing companies of Finland Clothing companies established in 1990 {{manufacturing-company-stub