local suppliers

95% TAUKO supply network is knitted tightly within close distances from our Helsinki studio allowing frequent visits and sharing of experiences. Keeping the distances short, not only reduces the transportation emissions, but lets us meet the people working for the companies in person. Our main partners – textile rental companies, dyeing houses and the sewing company – are located in Finland, Estonia and Germany.

The textile rental companies in Finland and Germany provide the starting point of the TAUKO story. Together with PHTH, USP, Lindström Group and Greif mietwäsche, we have been able to establish a method which benefits all of us, and the planet. The amount of textile waste of the textile rental companies decreases at the same time as our production is feeded with textiles to take to a new life cycle. Read more about the textile lifecycles.

The treatment of the reusable textiles is done with öko-text standard certified small dyeing-houses in Finland and in Estonia. Our visits at the two dyeing houses are always filled with deep respect for the professionalism and persuasion which keeps these companies thriving when most of the industry has disappeared from the Northern part of Europe.

All TAUKO collections are cut and sewn by Estonian sewing company, Rütiks Oü. Our collaboration with this family owned company has been continuing for over a decade. And we cannot be thankful enough for all the work they have done for making TAUKO happen.

Rütiks Oü is founded and owned by Rutt Ignahhin who bought an old sewing workshop and saved it from vanishing at the beginning of 1990’s. Her husband is working on her side, always there to tell stories of their trips and adventures together, and their numerous grandchildren.

The company employs nine local women, from which three are specialized to TAUKO products. Natalja, Svetlana and Jelena have been working with Rutt for over 20 years. The sewing workshop is a caring community, sharing Christmas dinners and keeping Fridays short for long weekends with the families.

The minor, but still important part of our suppliers produce the silky lining for the dresses, the buttons, the zippers, care tags for the clothes, prints and packaging materials. For each individual detail, we seek for the best solutions for the planet.

The lining and the zippers are made from recycled ocean plastic and other plastic waste in Portugal and Turkey. The buttons are selected from a special Italian button supplier with recycled and non-toxic treatment of old brass. All the prints and hang tags are printed with ecological inks on recycled paper/textile or GOTS certified natural textiles. Even the tape for our packaging can be recycled with the cardboard boxes and the glue on TAUKO stickers is non-toxic and fossil free. The electricity we use at our store is provided by renewable energy sources and all the merchandise is either reused or sourced from local craftsmen. Small things matter!

We are always improving the details we have missed to think of (there are plenty), but we are honestly doing our best and getting quite good at it. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line: tauko@taukodesign.fi