From dyehouse to image builder
Over the years Lindström has grown from a dye house operation to a laundry and from there to a professional textile rental firm. The nearly 160 year-old family business has been a pioneer in its field during its whole existence.
Founded in 1848, Lindström was originally a textile dye house, situated in a building located on the hill where the Finnish Parliament House currently stands. In the 1880s a laundry was set up in the old town of Helsinki, with dry cleaning as a novelty. The firm was called C.A Lindström & Son. In 1901, Lindström acquired a site on Lautatarhankatu 6, where the company’s headquarters are situated today.
In 1922, Uusi Pesula Oy, whose principal shareholder was Chief Engineer Johan Roiha, bought the share capital of AB W.E Lindström. The company was one of the largest of its kind in the Nordic countries.
In the 1930s, the company’s operations consisted of the dyeing and industrial laundry business. However, soon after the war and in the 1950s in particular, the industrial laundry business began to decline, so Uusi Pesula concentrated more on the laundry business for domestic customers. The company aimed at providing households with affordable specialty services. The laundry business for domestic households began to decline in the early 1970s, when automatic washing machines became common.
In the mid-1970s Lindström expanded its operations into the cleaning sector. In 1975, the company acquired Laitos-Siivous, and Lindström started to be known as a company that offered a total service. By adding cleaning to the Lindström companies’ operations the business concept of the whole group was strengthened.
The 1990s was a time of consolidation for Lindström. The company ceased its cleaning and waste management operations and its laundries, and concentrated on textile rentals. In addition, the company expanded its operations strongly into international markets.
At the beginning of the 2000s, Suomen Hotellipalvelu was turned into the company Comforta Oy. Sales products were brought in along with the rental textiles – the e-service Internet shop was opened.
In the autumn of 2002 Lindström’s internationally unique innovation, the module laundry was patented. The module laundry makes it possible to expand the operations abroad in small steps and at low cost. It also guarantees the same high quality service in all of Europe.
In 2005 Lindström bought Vision Design Oy, a company specialized in company textiles and PR-products and expanded the range of workwear to include protective equipment.
In 2006 Lindström opened two new subsidiaries in China and Ukraine. Lindström now has textile rental operations in fifteen European countries and in China.