Once upon a time there was a man named Juho Annala, Esko Hjelt’s great-grandfather. The Ostrobothnian winters were freezing cold, so Juho decided to open a wool and felt boot factory. He worked so hard that he did not realise how important it would turn out to be: it was 1917, and in December an independent nation called Finland would be born. The years went by and children were born. After working many years in family's weaving mill, year 1973 Esko's father Juha Hjelt desiced to build his own jacquard weaving mill, called Lapuan Kankurit.