At Puro Helsinki, every textile we choose has to earn its place in the sauna. Not just for how it looks, but for what it's made of and where it comes from. That's why, when we came across KIERTO from Jokipiin Pellava, we knew it belonged in our collection.
What happens to a pair of jeans when we no longer wear them? For many garments, that can feel like the end of the story. But what if it could be the beginning of something new?
In Finland, textile manufacturer Jokipiin Pellava is exploring exactly that idea with KIERTO — a textile collection that brings together Finnish linen and recycled fibres made from post-consumer denim. It's the material behind our Väre seat and bench covers.
The result is a textile with a story woven into it: old denim becomes part of something new.
From jeans to yarn
The story begins with post-consumer denim textiles collected in Finland.
Instead of using virgin cotton for this part of the material, Jokipiin Pellava uses recycled yarn made from collected denim textiles. The recycled yarn itself consists of 80% recycled fibre and 20% recycled polyester.
The process can be understood quite simply:
Old denim → recycled fibre → yarn → new textile
But the journey doesn't stop at the yarn.
Where Finnish linen meets recycled denim
For KIERTO, Jokipiin Pellava combines its linen warp with the recycled yarn.
The first experiments with the recycled yarn took place in 2022, when Jokipiin Pellava combined it with linen to create custom-made kitchen towels for Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto, the Finnish waste management company behind the recycled yarn. The experiment worked well enough to become the foundation for the KIERTO textile collection.
There is something appealing about seeing the material's previous life remain part of the new one. The denim fibres contribute to the character of the fabric, while the combination with linen gives the finished textile its own look and feel. It's this texture — slightly irregular, quietly textured — that made Väre stand out to us. On a sauna bench, a fabric with this much character does more than sit there. You feel it.
A Finnish tradition with a new perspective
Jokipiin Pellava's story began in the Finnish village of Jokipii in 1920, when Asser Laurila founded a sawmill beside the Jalasjoki river. The family business gradually evolved into textile production: wool spinning began in the 1930s, linen spinning in the 1940s, and linen weaving in the 1950s. Today, the company continues to manufacture textiles at its own weaving mill in Jokipii, Finland.
That history makes KIERTO particularly interesting.
The idea of making something new from existing materials is modern, but the knowledge of fibres, yarn and weaving comes from generations of Finnish textile craftsmanship.
It is not about choosing between tradition and new ideas. It is about bringing them together.
When the material becomes part of the design
KIERTO is not only a story about how the textile is made. The story also appears in its design.
The Väre pattern was created by Finnish designer Sini Aalto. She describes the cycle — and the beginning of something new — as the inspiration behind the pattern.
Its flowing lines can be seen as yarns or waves moving across the surface. Drawn by hand, they give the pattern an organic quality.
And there is a quiet connection between the design and the material itself. The pattern speaks of movement and cycles. The fabric carries the story of recycled denim. Together, they turn the idea of circularity into something you can actually see and touch.
For us, that's the point of bringing KIERTO into the sauna specifically. A sauna is where you slow down — it's a fitting place for a textile that asks you to think, even briefly, about where things come from.
Circularity you can see
Sustainability can sometimes feel abstract. Words such as circularity, recycling and responsible production can be difficult to connect to something tangible.
KIERTO makes the idea much simpler.
A pair of jeans has been used. The textile is collected and processed into recycled fibres. Those fibres become yarn. The yarn is woven together with linen. And the resulting fabric becomes a new textile product.
The previous life of the material has not disappeared. It has become part of its next chapter.
That is what makes the story behind KIERTO so interesting.
A cycle rather than an ending
The name KIERTO means cycle in English. It is a fitting name for a collection built around the idea that materials can have more than one life.
For Jokipiin Pellava, this is part of a broader approach to materials and production. The company says that it uses linen, cotton and wool for their durability and weaving properties, while also exploring recycled fibres where suitable. Its textiles are manufactured at its own facility in Finland.
Perhaps that is the most interesting part of the story. Circularity does not have to mean that something disappears. Sometimes, it means that something continues. In another form. With another purpose. And with a little bit of its history still woven into it.
At Puro Helsinki, that's exactly why KIERTO earned its place in our sauna collection — not as a trend, but as a material with a story worth sitting with.
