Marimekko restructuring to yield savings of €2.5mn

07 Feb '14

2 min read

Marimekko is planning to carry out a re-organisation of its operations, which is expected to result in the elimination of an estimated maximum of 65 jobs in Finland and the United States.

If implemented to its full extent, the re-organisation will yield annual savings in costs estimated at roughly 2.5 million euros and an improvement in operating result. Marimekko has also decided to initiate an international recruitment process to seek a new Creative Director for the company.

In accordance with its strategy, Marimekko has undergone a dynamic phase of internationalisation and change in the past five years. The product distribution network has been greatly expanded in all of the company's main market areas: in the past three years, the number of Marimekko stores has grown by around 60 percent and the number of company-owned stores has almost doubled. New markets have been opened up in South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mexico.

“In recent years, we have taken several very significant steps in our internationalisation for a company of our size. In spite of the difficult state of the global economy, we have built Marimekko into a global design company with already more than 130 stores in Asia, Europe and North America. It is now time to move into the next stage of our strategy, in which we seek a significant improvement in profitability at the same time as our growth continues,” says Mika Ihamuotila, President and CEO.

“We are reorganising our operations to strengthen the competitiveness of our business in the long term, and our goal is a more efficient organisational structure. Unfortunately, this will mean initiating consultative negotiations in Finland and reorganisations in the United States as well.

We also want to create even more attractive products for our international customer base. For this reason, we are reinforcing our design unit by seeking a new Creative Director with international experience,” says Mika Ihamuotila, President and CEO.

Consultative negotiations and reorganisation

Marimekko will initiate consultative negotiations on all operations in Finland with the exception of the personnel at the textile printing factory in Helsinki. Reorganisations will also be carried out in the United States. The planned actions are expected to result in an estimated reduction of a maximum of 65 personnel in Finland and the United States. The other offices outside Finland are not within the scope of the reorganisations.

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