Meet the maker: Rožė, Lithuania

Have you ever wondered who made your clothes? The annual Fashion Revolution campaign wants to shed light on the makers behind garments and promote a more sustainable fashion industry.

On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed. 1,138 people died and another 2,500 were injured, making it the fourth largest industrial disaster in history. The annual Fashion Revolution day that promotes a more sustainable fashion industry will take place on Tuesday 24 April 2018. Fashion Revolution is a not-for-profit campaign that strives to bring forth the makers of products and improve working conditions of the garment industry. The Fashion Revolution Campaign believes that the change for the better starts with a simple question: who made your clothes?

The sustainability of operations throughout our supply chain is very important to Marimekko and we want to do our part in promoting responsibility and transparency in the garment industry. About 70 % of Marimekko products are manufactured in Europe and the rest mainly in Asia. We want to pay special attention to the working conditions in our operations regardless of the manufacturing site or country.

We are proud of our skilled supplier network and all the employees that have their own stories to tell. In the spirit of Fashion Revolution we want to share some of them.

Rožė, Lithuania

Rožė is a Lithuanian company based in Vilnius that produces clothing and cutting and sewing services. The company was established in 1946 and has been working with Marimekko since 2011. Rožė values Marimekko’s professionalism, reliability and accountability in addition to Marimekko’s business ideas, iconic style and prints.

Rožė employs over 100 people, mostly women, with only 8 men working in the factory. The average age of employees is 46 years and the average career in the company lasts for 12 years. We met Teresa, who works on final ironing. Teresa has worked for Rože for an impressive 31 years. “My job includes finishing and steaming Marimekko’s beautiful products.” We asked Teresa what would be one thing she would change in her work: “I want to produce perfectly finished and ironed clothes and be happy with the result. Each fabric has its own character. It is a great pleasure to work with high quality fabrics.” Teresa also wanted to send greetings to Marimekko: “I wish Marimekko a lot of satisfied and happy customers!”