User:PalmRed/Pertti Palmroth

Pertti Palmroth vastaanottaa vieraita Hämeen kenkätehtaalla 1979

Pertti Pauli llmari Palmroth (12. august 1931 Pirkkala – 29. march 2020 Tampere) was a Finnish shoe designer and shoe manufacturer from Finland. He specialized in the design of high quality women’s shoes and boots..

Career

Palmroth's parents were shoe manufacturer Pentti Palmroth and Alli Ester Mandell. His older brother was Juhani Palmroth (1929–1978). Pertti and Juhani Palmroth studied in Northampton, England and Pirmasenss, Germany and graduated as footwear engineers. Pertti Palmroth in particular was influenced by high fashion. He became a designer of high-quality women's shoes and boots .

After returning to Finland, Brother Juhani Palmroth started working in office of the Partola factory, but Pertti Palmroth, who was interested in designing and selling shoes, began designing women's fashion shoes and boots. His first shoes were designed by Pertti Palmroth, then 21 years old, in 1952. . In the autumn of 1952, he designed sandals from the Miss Universum collection for Armi Kuusela. Pertti Palmroth also handled the factory's sales and purchasing tasks, participated in trade fairs and toured the factory to sell shoes throughout Finland. The shoes designed by Palmroth also began to be exported from 1958, first to Sweden and then to other parts of Europe, Japan and also North America..

After his father Pentti Palmroth died in the fall of 1968, his sons Juhani and Pertti ran the factories together 1969 the factories were divided so that brother Juhani continued with the Partola shoe factory (which operated until 1986), and Pertti took ownership of the Hämeen shoe factory. Together they still operated the third Palmroth factory in the Netherlands,

Pertti Palmroth started as the managing director of Hämeen kenkätehdas Oy (later Hamken Oy) in 1969. The shoe factory initially operated in Sarankulma, Tampere. In 1972, he founded the Palmroth Original brand. From 1976, the products he designed began to be sold under the name Pertti Palmroth. The factory was opened in Virot in the early 1980s. In 1986, Palmroth started as the managing director of Pertti Palmroth oy's store chain. In 1995, Hamken Oy also started operating in Pirkkala..

in 2000 Pertti Palmroth led a design team that included e.g. his wife Hannele Palmroth and shoe designer Anu Haalahti. The Tampere, Virtain and Pirkkala plants employed about 250 people. 60–70 per cent of production was exported, the largest markets being the Nordic countries and Northern Europe, Canada and the United States. There were 23 stores in Finland and abroad.

In 2004, at the age of 73, Pertti Palmroth left his position as CEO of both Hamken and Pertti Palmroth Oy, and an outside CEO was hired to continue. In 2007, Hamken Oy underwent a corporate restructuring and the family had to decide what it would do for the family business. The solution was found within the family. In February 2008, Mikko Palmroth, one of Pertti Palmroth's children, started as the company's CEO and Petrina Palmroth as the operative of the domestic store chain. The Hämeen factory and stores closed in 2012, but the footwear business continued to operate under the names Palmroth, Pertti Palmroth and Palmroth Original by Mikko Palmroth. Pertti Palmroth died at the age of 88 in Tampere in the spring of 2020. The story of the Pertti Palmroth and Palmroth footwear he designed continues in the Palmroth brand and products he created.

Private Life

Pertti Palmroth was married to Marja-Leena Miettinen from 1952 to 1986 and from 1988 to Hannele Paasonen. Palmroth had five children with his first wife and two children with his second wife. She had a total of 15 grandchildren. Palmroth lived most of his life in Pirkkala and died in 2020 in Tampere.

Sources

[[Category:2020 deaths]] [[Category:1931 births]] [[Category:Finnish fashion designers]]