Hyvinkää Shoe Factory 1938 

Once he graduated from university as an engineer and the economy began to recover, Onni K. Rentto started to look for a shoe manufacturing company to buy. He found it in Hyvinkää. 

In 1938, August Väisänen sold his shoe manufacturing business to Onni K. Rentto, who had left Attila Oy. At the Annual General Meeting, the decision was made to change the company’s name to Hyvinkää Kenkätehdas Oy (Hyvinkää Shoe Factory). Onni K. Rentto took up his duties as head of the factory on 16th May 1938, which is considered the official start of the operations of Rentto Oy. It operated as a shoe factory until 1990. 

A decade earlier, Rentto Oy had bought a majority holding in Aaltonen’s shoe business. After this transaction, Aaltosen Kenkätehdas Oy (Aaltonen Shoe Factory) was founded, which was already well-known in the industry from the time of Emil Aaltonen. It continued operating until 1997. 

In 1953, Onni K. Rentto brought from Germany the idea of manufacturing cellular rubber. In the same year, the company leased the premises of Hyvinkään Saha Oy (Hyvinkää Sawmill) at Sahanmäki in Hyvinkää, and that is where the rubber industry of Rentto Oy began.  

Text borrowed from Rentto Oy, review of operations 1938-1991, Kurt Carlander