On Wednesday, 23rd of February we went to visit Miela Designroom, a Finnish design store located in Tampere. We were welcomed by two of the shop owners: Ariela and Anni, who started introducing their business to us. When entering the shop, we could see a beautiful and warm atmosphere that was surrounding us. “Miela” name itself means mindful and pleasant, an old Finnish name, associated correctly with the store concept!
Miela Designroom was officially opened on a special day: February 14th, 2019; now three years of operating. At Miela Designroom you can find around 60 different local brands, the selection of which is renewed monthly. But, not everyone can be their supplier. As stated by the owners, the selection of brands who can be present in their store except for other important factors is based on the transparency that they show in their entire business processes. This gives the reliability and safety the customers nowadays want to hear about!
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At Miela Designroom you can find around 70 different Finnish brands, the selection of which is renewed monthly. Not everyone can be their supplier. As stated by the owners, the selection of brands who can be present in their store except other important factors is based on the transparency that they show in their entire business processes. This gives the reliability and safety the customers nowadays want to hear about!
The products at Miela are all Finnish origin, starting from famous worldwide known brands such as Ivana Helsinki to the Nuoki, a brand owned by two ex-students of HAMK, who were also present to tell us their story of success. The target group of customers at Miela are mostly 30 years old women, but there you can find products for men and kids as well from brands such as Kaiko and Papu.
At Miela Designroom you can find stunning earrings which are made of wood, silver, leather, and recycled materials.
There was also own corner for Nouki design and they try a new concept model pre-order.
Second floor: Preloved & Vaatepuu
Moving further on the store you can see the sign that directs you to the second floor, in which you can find second-hand clothes, shoes and accessories of high quality and good condition.
¨We loved how the second-floor environment changed from the first one; different colors somehow representing two different sectors of the store¨
Anni one of the owners.
Ariela one of the owners.
Fascinating is the fact that at Miela they take care themselves of important issues when it comes to the second-hand clothing, such as cleaning, presentation, sales and marketing. The only compensation to them in that case is to charge a sales commission.
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In the end of the second floor there was a third concept and a different company called Vaatepuu. Their business idea is to be a sustainable fashion library. As a member of Vaatepuu customer can rent (or buy) clothes and accessories from there as they would be renting and changing books in a book library. Depending on a membership a customer can rent different amount and types of clothes and accessories for a different rental period. You´ll get to change your wardrobe as often as once a week without buying them for yourself. It is more ecological way.
Even though Miela Designroom has been created with the idea of making Finnish brands more accessible to the people of Pirkanmaa, we would love to have such a business with different Finnish brands present in other countries as well. That would give the opportunity to the world to know more about Finnish fashion and culture, and why not, to love and consume it!
We want to thank Professors Leena Koivunen and Eveliina Toivonen for making this visit possible and the team of Miela Designroom for the warm welcome. Success is always an inspiration!
Thank you and best wishes,
Qendresa, Katja, Mila and Mari
