THE EMIL AALTONEN MEMORIAL FUND

In 1951, the Central Association of Finnish Shoe Factories founded a foundation to promote professional skill in Finnish shoemaking. Established in memory of Emil Aaltonen, the Emil Aaltonen Memorial Fund supports vocational studies for those training in the shoe trade, as well as skills development for people already working in the field.

Emil Aaltonen valued skill and hard work. Having had almost no schooling and spent his early years as a herd boy, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker at fourteen, in 1883. Five years later he became a master shoemaker, and the young man opened his own workshop in Hattula, near where he’d grown up.

Emil valued craftsmanship, thrift, and Finnish culture, but he was just as drawn to machines and technology. He soon equipped his workshop with machinery for turning out sturdy, well-made shoes on a larger scale — the start of his journey from craftsman to major industrialist.

Aaltonen’s shoe factory grew into the largest in the Nordic countries, employing 1,500 people in Tampere after the war. Back in the 1920s and 30s, Emil had also helped establish the Lokomo and Sarvis operations, and a number of smaller Finnish shoe factories had come under Aaltonen ownership. By the time he stepped down from running his companies in 1947, they employed over 3,000 people. Finland had gained an industrial leader who cared as much about improving workers’ conditions and advancing Finnish science and culture as he did about industrial growth.

True to Emil Aaltonen’s wishes, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation he established continues to fund scientific research to the tune of several million euros a year.