Kalavala Koru continues to grow, with growth coming from Japan and the Preloved-concept

When Kirsi Paakkari started as CEO of Kalevala Koru in 2019, the company was in a challenging situation. First, Kalevala Koru developed a new growth strategy, renewed its distribution and portfolio, and invested in the brand and brand building.

Kalevala Koru was already well known in Finland. The company sought new growth in Tokyo, Japan with a D2C strategy, and the Kalevala brand was launched in Tokyo in 2022.

Now, after long-term work, the success of Kalevala Koru looks good by all indicators. Finland is still Kalevala Koru's main market and is growing nicely. In Tokyo, the building of the Kalevala brand has progressed well, and the brand awareness in the core target group is 32 percent.

Naomi from Tokio

In Tokyo, Kalevala Koru's target group is narrow: it is Naomi from Tokyo. Kalevala Koru has tested pop-up concepts in premium department stores elsewhere in Japan, but the largest brand building efforts are being made in Tokyo.

During its endeavour in Japan, Kalevala Koru has utilised external partners and also hired Japanese know-how to the team. A good growth platform has been made possible by a precise target group definition and a local PR partner.

"We want our partners to be committed to our values ​​and be proud to work for Kalevala Koru," says Paakkari.

”We have been building the brand in Tokyo for about three years now. The awareness among the target group is already 32 percent in Tokyo. That is already a really good foundation for seeking growth," says Paakkari.

From an experiment to a growth pillar

Somewhat surprisingly, alongside Japan and new collections, the rapidly growing Preloved concept has become a pillar for growth.  

“We followed the circular economy market and decided to try it ourselves. In January 2022, we started with a Preloved pilot in our factory store. During the summer, we got the feeling that this could become a bigger thing. In a few months, we built the Preloved concept into our online store, and launched it in November 2022,” says Paakkari.

In the Preloved concept, customers sell their used Kalevala jewelry and receive a gift card to the Kalevala online store and stores in return.

“I wouldn’t even call the Preloved concept second-hand. When the jewelry comes to us, it is serviced at our factory in Helsinki and after that the jewelry is like new,” says Paakkari.

“Preloved immediately started growing rapidly. Preloved is now on display in Finland at our flagship store, factory outlet and online store,” continues Paakkari.

Currently, Preloved is growing in Finland at a growth rate of up to 50% without significant investments in marketing. Preloved does not always mean jewelry from previous collections, as jewelry also from the newest collection can be sold.

Consumer behavior has changed towards value-based choices. Paakkari has noticed that young customers in particular are primarily looking for jewelry from the Kalevala Preloved collection.

A third of the profit goes to charity

Sustainability and responsibility have always been at the core of Kalevala Koru's strategy. The company was founded in 1937, and since then the Kalevala Women's Association has been the owner, supporting and promoting Finnish cultural work.

As part of the new strategy in 2020, Kalevala Koru set a goal to use a third of its profit for doing good and for the well-being of its employees. At the same time, the company began cooperation with the Home Street Home association, and Kalevala Koru funded the Kalevala Training Center in Kenya (KTC). The project offers three training programs for the most vulnerable girls and women and helps them enter the labor market and become independent. 642 students have graduated from KTC. 78% of them have found employment, started their own businesses or continued their studies.

Kirsi Paakkari is the CEO of Kalevala Koru and a member of the Board of Directors of the Growth Collective.

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