ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author reviews the history of the Finnish clothing industry, analyzes its predicament and examines recent attempts made by firms to restructure production using team working. The Soviet Union and other East European countries offered relatively stable and growing markets for the Finnish industrial products - clothing included -which were paid mainly by oil and raw materials coming from the East. Homeworking and different kinds of informal economic activities have increased as well, whereas the number of immigrant workers in Finnish clothing companies is at a rather low level. Most of the firms have sub-contracting relations with Finnish and Swedish clothing corporations and some have Western owners. Trade policy solutions will be the most important factor; for instance Finland’s membership of the European Union has improved significantly the possibility of Finnish clothing manufacturers’ use of foreign subcontracting in production targeted to European Union markets.
