Lifelong partnership
Finarte carpets have been manufactured in India since 1991. Our rug production affects more than 500 families, and we feel responsible for their well-being. We want to support the local communities in many ways: read more of our impact below.
Co-operation turned into friendship
We have been manufacturing rugs in India since 1991. The founders of Finarte, Eija Rasinmäki and Erkki Immonen, and their daughter, current CEO Larissa Immonen-Sharma, have visited India at least twice a year since then (excl. COVID era 2020–2021). Larissa and Eija lived in India from 2005 to 2008. Since 2024, Larissa and her family have split their time between Finland and Nepal, which allows her to visit our weaving partners in India even more frequently. Over the years, our cooperation with Indian weaving partners has grown into long-term partnerships in which we develop products and processes together.
Guided by Code of Conduct
All our partners and suppliers must sign our Code of Conduct. It requires them to disclose their entire production chain, including subcontractors, and to ensure that their subcontractors comply with local laws and respect international human rights standards, such as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Child labour is strictly prohibited. We monitor compliance through regular visits to our partners' production sites, and for partners certified under SA8000 or audited under amfori BSCI, also through independent audits.
Social sustainability certificates
Several of our weaving partners are SA8000 certified or audited under amfori BSCI. Both systems set requirements for working conditions, such as fair wages, safe workplaces and the prohibition of child labour, and compliance is checked through independent audits.
SA8000 is an international standard for social accountability. It covers areas such as working hours, wages, health and safety, freedom of association and non-discrimination, and applies to the certified company's own operations as well as its subcontractors. The certificate is valid for three years, during which regular surveillance audits are carried out.
Against child labor
Child labour is strictly prohibited for all our partners and their subcontractors. Our partners are members of Care & Fair or licensed by GoodWeave, organisations that work to end child labour in the carpet industry and to improve the living conditions of carpet weavers and their families. GoodWeave also carries out unannounced inspections at licensed production sites. In addition, our partners have funded schools in their local communities.
Empowered by education
We sponsored a two-year training program, supported by the Finnish Government, in which we taught local weavers our complex rug weaving techniques, which in turn, educated weavers can pass on to others in the community. Training has provided jobs and opportunities for both creative and professional growth. In addition, our designers Eija Rasinmäki and Mervi Pesonen have been visiting India for years to teach Finnish weaving techniques to local weavers.
Aiming to improve opportunities for women and girls
Did you know that educating girls is one way to combat climate change? All of our partners have set up schools in their own areas to create better opportunities for local communities. For example, Indus Kleed has two partner schools, one is a free primary school for girls and the other is an educational institution that offers opportunities for university-going students.
Our partner company Indus Kleed is a family business in which the women of the family are strongly involved. In addition, our partners seek to influence attitudes by hiring women into positions that have traditionally been for men. Women’s employment is also promoted by providing tasks such as basket weaving, which can be done from home.
Fair design
According to the Finnish Textile & Fashion Association, about 80 percent of the value of a Finnish product remains in Finland, even if the manufacturing takes place elsewhere. By acquiring Finarte products, you support Finnish family entrepreneurship and employment both in Finland and abroad. Work in a developing country has a double positive effect: we can simultaneously support local employment and the well-being of our partners in both India and Finland.
About 80 percent of the value of a Finnish product remains in Finland, even if the production takes place abroad.
Our honesty extends not only to our foreign partners, but also to the Finnish designers we work with. We always pay talented designers a fair reward for their work. Our cooperation is based on a royalty agreement, in which the product designer receives their share of each product sold.
